As The Dying Moon Sings
by Divalier
Summary: She is an Aztec peasant, tortured by past and present. He is an Amini, a Hunter, torn between two lives, who he was and who he is soon to become. Two people worlds and stories apart. Will the Aztec Gods use them to destroy the world? Or save it?
1. Sacrifice

Prolog: Sacrifice

Necahual turned back one more time. She was only a few steps up the temple sides and yet, what was left of her family seemed so far away. Her two year old daughter, who shared her bright emerald eyes and long obsidian hair, was smiling and oblivious. She was the most beautiful thing on the planet. Holding her and near tears was her husband, Ahuiliztli, who had fought this sentence the most of the two. There was a gruff grunt to her upper right and she turned back, the feathers of her top swaying in the warm breeze. The Messenger three steps above her, grunted for her to keep trudging upward. She didn't mind the thought of what lay above those steps; it was an honor to be offered this chance. Who didn't want to help the Hunters with their Hunt?

_**Let the flames begin.**_

She took another step and her body froze. Something was stopping her. Her heart hurt and for a moment, she was on fire inside. She looked up at the Hunter in front of her questionably. He growled at her to keep going, but when she attempted to step again, her strength failed.

_**You are a weak mind, bad for my children.**_

"What is wrong with you human!" the Hunter near her shouted this time.

He roughly grabbed her by her hair and began to yank her up the steps. This time, she shouted for him to stop and when he did, she knew she was not alone in alarm.

"Mommy! Who is that lady?" Her little girl's voice drifted up from the bottom of the steps. How she longed to stand next to her one more time, to hold the little on in her arms.

_**She is stronger than you**__._

Another shadow hovered above her and abruptly she saw not only the feet of the Hunter that had been dragging her, but his chest as he bowed to whomever stood above. She recognized him with his voice.

"Do you hear her human?" the Hunter known as Dachande, different knife, asked calmly.

"Wh-who is she?" Necahual's voice was shaking.

_**I know what will happen…**_

"She is the Queen." Dachande answered in reverence as he pulled Necahual to her feet.

She still did not have the strength to stand, and therefore the nine foot tall Hunter carried her upward as he continued to speak.

_**Burn her eyes without hope of understanding them.**_

"Only those who listen the right way can hear her."

Necahual shook her head to rid herself of the deep watery voice. It didn't work.

_**Kiss her mouth that you may fathom its strange tongue.**_

"What is she saying?" Dachande smiled, but none could tell for he had donned his metal mask.

"Does it matter what she says?" Necahual's voice still quivered and she was sweating slightly.

"No, not really, but most of the time it is interesting."

_**Rape her mind because it is not your own.**_

"She keeps saying something like a poem. Burn her eyes without hope of understanding them. Kiss her mouth that you may fathom its strange tongue.Rape her mind because it is not your own…"

"She says things like that often. Most of them are poems from our own people."

He was at the temple door now and heading inward to the sacrifice chambers. Something smelled faintly of rot and death and slime. Necahual assumed it was the Queen creature that the Hunters hunted. Frowning as her strength faded even farther and at the fact that Dachande became quiet; the woman huffed to herself and grew more and more nervous. She was being carried to her death by one of the most honored Hunters the humans knew. The Queen continued to talk in her head.

_**Your offspring can hear me as well.**_

Necahual didn't know how to answer. She simply hoped that her little girl never figured out what was happening here. Especially when Necahual didn't come home like promised.

_**She will forget you.**_

To be forgotten was Necahual's biggest fear. She shouted out loud at the Queen's thoughts and began to cry silently.

"No! Don't let her forget me…please" she began to pray to any God or Goddess that cared enough to listen.

_**She will forget you. But I will not. **_

Necahual cried and ignored Dachande's talk to the other Hunters. The smell of horror grew stronger as the sacrifice chamber came into view. She could see the long stone "beds" she was to lie on.

The stone was cool and hard beneath her back. Twelve other women had been chosen, all of them cried either hysterically or calmly. One from Necahual's right spoke to her.

"Will it hurt?"

_**Yes.**_ The Queen answered in her mind.

"No." Necahual lied. Hope was their last chance now.

"I hope my child is the strongest."

_**It will not be, bad for my children. Yours will be strong Queenbearer.**_

Would the Queen not shut up? Necahual asked herself in her mind and finally she was rewarded with an answer.

_**I will not be silent!**_

Necahual only had this final chance to speak. The Hunters and priests were leaving so that the eggs could be brought up and hatch. She grabbed Dachande's arm as he turned to go.

"What is a Queenbearer?" she asked solemnly. She had given up all hope and was numb.

"What?" he never answered her question for he was dragged out of the room too quickly.

The doors closed with a final slam and the silence was only broken by the cries of the other women and the grinding of stone on stone. Necahual's mind flashed back to memories and dreams to keep her sane.

_Her baby first coming to life. The pain and joy at her first cries and finally naming her Tonalnan._

The eggs had been transported from the Queen all the way up to here. A swishing and gooey noise could be heard.

_Her little girl sleeping in between her husband and her. The giggles of a baby and the cries of a father changing a cloth diaper. _

Something very much like a spider began to crawl up Necahual's thighs. It left a trail of slime in its wake and threw a dream away with every step.

_Teaching her daughter how to walk. Laughing at her first birthday._

It reached her line of vision and stopped on her chest. Something told her that this one was different than the rest; it had three more legs and rib-looking protrusions on its back. Necahual began to think of all the things she would miss out on in the coming years.

_Her daughter going to school, learning to fight as her mother had, and watching her grow into a woman._

The thing was up at her throat now. Something was being forced into her mouth.

_Tonalnan killing her first animal. And finding her husband, having children, and living her life._

Something was in her throat; it was gooey and tasted much like rotted flesh. Slime dripped down her tongue. The Queen's voice was gone now. Necahual's air supply was being cut off and for a moment she couldn't think. The last thing that flashed through her mind was the one thing she could not have.

_Her little girl and husband smiling, standing at the door of their hut and watching her come home._

Outside the temple, a father went mad, the sky began to cry, and the Gods called thirteen of their children home.


	2. The Moon By Day

The country was beautiful as it could be. Trees talked in the breeze and the birds nested as close to the sky as they dared. But something stirred in the beauty, making it ugly and unnatural. A creature looked to its right and crouched. A metallic noise sounded its presence, the sliding of metal on metal. All was silent in the land of the humans. And in a moment, the world was shattered. The Hunter rose to his victory and looked around…for something more to hunt.

_Farmland outside the Aztec Capital Tenochtitlan_

Mayahuel giggled giddily as she crouched to look at the bug closer. She watched the spider eat its' prey and was reminded of history. But the complex thoughts of life escaped her 14 year-old mind and she was lost in the happiness of the rainforest. Feeling her legs tingle with numbness, Mayahuel stood to her full 5 feet and 3 inches and shielded her eyes from the sun. She looked around for a moment for something to hold her thick black locks at bay, finally finding a small stem of a Rubber Plant and tying her annoying locks to the base of her neck in a bun. Still annoyed at the stringy bits of hair sticking to her sweaty neck, Mayahuel turned and decided that a fresh run would help her, though it might make her sweat more. She trudged through the forest back to the road at the top of the hill and found that her basket of fruit still there and intact. Sighing in relief, the teen skipped up to it and smiled. She quickly looped it around her arm and sped down the hill, leaving a trail of dust in the air.

Mayahuel arrived back in her poor village just as the sun was setting. Winding her way through the mud and thatch huts, the girl giggled. Perhaps she could find her way accidentally to her sister's house for supper instead of her own home. Mayahuel smiled even wider when she saw her purple and red mud house. She brushed the mud, encrusted dirt from her feet and ankles, and stepped through the grass flap that served as the door to her family's mud and stone hut. The sight that greeted her made her gasp, even though it was a common sight in her home. Her foster-father, whom she called Gruthspen (monster) behind his back, stood above her foster-mother with a wooden pole in his hand. He was shouting at the woman and hitting her in the head with the stick repeatedly. Mayahuel knew better than to save her foster-mother and earn herself a rather harsh beating. Whirling back around and setting the basket by the door, Mayahuel was almost out the door when her foster-father spotted her. A hand shot out and yanked her from the edge of safety. She could have outrun him…

She screamed and kicked at him as he threw her to the ground beside her mother. Mayahuel held her hands over her head an attempted to keep her noise from reaching his ears. As her mother was hit, the steady slush of her broken skin made Mayahuel sick. Her mother and her attempted to keep the screams of terror and pain in as the horrid man hit them repeatedly with the beating pole, leaving bruises and welts. Time passed slowly and as his hits became weak and less frequent, the girls could tell that his anger was slated for now. He looked at Mayahuel's foster-mother with lust in his eyes and the odd smell of sex rose from him. Gruthspen roughly snatched up Mayahuel's mother and forced her to the bedroom in the back. He didn't even bother to snap the reed door shut. The broken teen shook her head, thick tears rolling down her cheeks. She stumbled through the door and out into the street. Blood oozed and pain hit her hard as she breathed in the fresh form of life. Air. Mayahuel knew that that night, she wanted to be as far from that bed as possible. Her foster father had a well-known reputation for taking his older daughters and forcing them to bed with him as well. Her eldest sister had a child with him; her father had killed it by tying a stone to its neck and dropping it into the swamp only a day after it had been born. Her sister had then killed herself in front of the Temple of Life claiming that he was the reincarnation of Death. As Mayahuel rushed her broken body across the street, she could hear the sounds of hushed rape behind her. The dirt road was thick and dusty and everything seemed to antagonize her wounds. People passed her as if she was not there. It was a bad sign to show passion to the weak and frail. They were worth nothing in this world.

Grieving, the teen crawled to the forest, a few miles from the city walls of Tenochtitlan, and far from the village, she had grown up in. Something fluttered across her mind, reminding her of her sister's death. She cupped her hands to her ears and crumpled to the ground crying to anyone for help. When she could no longer move, the girl slumped by a fallen rotted tree and held her aching face and head in her shivering arms. Something in her heart stirred and made her look up. A bangalai bird sat on a branch of the fallen tree. The bird peeped, and shot off toward the sky. Her sister had favored those birds, and they in turn had favored her. Mayahuel remembered spending hours by the river, watching her sister "talk" to the animals and envying her for it. Mayahuel watched the bird fly, letting her hatred and fear fly with it. It had been her sister telling her to be strong, Mayahuel knew it. After it had disappeared, there was only sadness left in her heart. She looked back down to her palms. Somehow, her mind drifted back to this morning and her picking flowers and fruit. The task she enjoyed in this life. The one thing she loved. She closed her eyes and could picture the trees welcoming her and the forest teeming with life and love. It was her haven, and she loved being there. Above her, the atmosphere stirred and a balloon like ship came into view followed by eight others. They pushed the clouds aside, sending them dancing in swirls of angry grey and blissful white. The Guardians were back. Mayahuel looked to the sky and prayed that the god's would have mercy on her this night, praying for her foster-mother and step-sisters as well. She was too stiff to climb back to her home, and she truthfully didn't want to. Deciding to stay, Mayahuel watched the ships drift toward the towering temples. She wondered what it would be like to see one of those majestic creatures next to her as she surveyed he lands with the priests. As she was drifting to sleep, the young one did not know of the gods watching her; nor of the young demigod, her foster-mother had named her after. She drifted off with frightful thoughts of the beating she would get when she arrived home the next day, if she decided to go back again.

_The Seventh Heaven_

Huitzilopochtli looked through the stone mirror at the small female on the world below him. No wonder Mayahuel had wanted his help with her. She was almost hopeless, what with her history of abuse and distraught. The demigod had asked him to send a servant down or at least help her convince Ehecatl to save the poor soul. The god of fire and Sun stared at the female and glanced back at the large door to the temple. He sighed and shook his head. It was hard to convince the God of Wind to change anything he didn't want to. He was as stubborn as… the winds. Huitzilopochtli turned the vision on the rock from the girl to the alien ship that had just entered the atmosphere. A voice broke his train of thought, followed by near silent footsteps.

"Why would our dear demigod ask this of you, Huitzilopochtli?" Ixtlilton, God of Healing, asked faintly. His robes nearly covered all of him, allowing only for the minimal silent movements he usually made.

"I assume she sees the child as a reflection of herself." The giant man replied with another sigh.

He had been sighing a lot lately.

"Or maybe not at all, an exact opposite of herself." The God Ixtlilton smiled back.

The two stood in a moment of silence as both watched the stone of obsidian and the world it showed therein. Ixtlilton walked without the slightest ruffle of his robes to a bench at one end of the circular stone. He sat with a smile and switched his gaze to the God of Fire and Sun. The much older god looked tired and worn out, usually impossible for a God. Mayahuel had asked a big favor of him. It wasn't easy to change a god's mind, no matter the God. Hours passed with minimal talking. Finally, someone spoke up.

"Ixtlilton, help heal the girl. I will speak to Mayahuel and Ehecatl of this matter." And with that, the god Huitzilopochtli turned and left the Temple of Light.

Macuilxochitl frowned as Huitzilopochtli strode past him and down the temple steps. The God of Love stopped to watch his brother fade into the distance of the Seventh Heaven. He shook his head and entered the door with a slight creak. Ixtlilton greeted Macuilxochitl and they immediately got to business.

"Mayahuel came to me saying that a certain human female could change the fates of her empire… and maybe even ours." He started.

"Our demigod has asked for Huitzilopochtli to help her gain status in her city. And he, in turn, asked me to heal her." Ixtlilton smiled impishly.

"She has asked me to send her love and happiness. Why do you think the girl wishes to work with the human?"

"I think her motives will be made clear soon enough and I, for one, will do as she asks and watch."

"And I will do the same" He spoke more to himself. "Hmm, what love would change the world?"

"One that could heal both body and soul."

"Ah, she brings us closer."

"Yes…our very demigod forces us to work together."

"Some amusement may come of this after all"

And the two began to work.

Ometecuhlti/Omecihuatl took its time gazing at the human priests and alien worriers below it. It could appear as a male, Ometecuhlti, or as a female, Omecihuatl. Though most of the time it appeared as a female, it now had taken on the form of both. A male with breasts and long hair adorned with feathers and jewels. His robes swayed in a breeze that never seemed to end. The world around him reminded Mayahuel the Demigod much of the Universe.

"Please, your holy one. I only ask that you bless the child for I know you see what I do." Mayahuel pleaded with the ruler over gods.

"Yes, I see the changes for good in one eye…and them for bad in the other. Why would you ask this of me, demigod?"

Mayahuel hated to be reminded that she wasn't a full goddess. She huffed a bit and rested her hands near her hips.

"She could bring the balance back to the Sun and Moon, to Twilight. She could-" she was cut off by a wave of a hand.

"I know what she could do… but what is to stop her from bringing ruin to her world? Humans are simple and greedy; she could turn in a moment."

"I do not believe she would, holy one."

"Why?"

"She's not like me…"

_Day of the Full Worm Moon, (March) Tenochtitlan of Azteca_

Mayahuel frowned and slotted her eyes open to the world. The sun beseeched her to rise with it. The bleeding globe of light was just peeking over the horizon and, just maybe, she could hobble back to the hut before her father woke. She stretched her sore limbs and stood. Something inside her hurt and she knew that it was not a good sign. Many people of her age often got hurt on the inside and sometimes they didn't make it. Ignoring the looks of pity and disgust, she earned from the other common folk, Mayahuel navigated her way through the winding streets and houses of her village. She hadn't been that far away, she realized. As Mayahuel hobbled, she could hear murmurs of hope and gasps of fright. Stopping and risking a look upward, Mayahuel could see the cause of the commotion. The God's Messengers were back. She could see their outlined forms standing at the tops of the various temples of the great city. She had to tell her foster-mother to watch out! They sometimes took pretty women for the sacrifice cages for their great hunts. Something reminded her of long ago and her heart raced faster. Bursting into a run and ignoring the protests of her limbs, Mayahuel sprinted down the well- worn path to the farm her family raised. She sighed when she reached the rut and saw that the dogs were still un-fed. Her family still slept. Silently climbing into her rug on the floor, the small teen pretended to be asleep. Only a few minutes later she heard the shuffling of her foster parents. She stiffened lightly when her father's sandaled foot stomped rather loudly right next to her head. Jumping up to avoid being stepped on, Mayahuel pretended to be sleepy as her father began to complain. Her "sleepiness" stopped abruptly when the man lifted her by her hair to his height and shouted in her face.

"Where were you last night, you whore?" He didn't wait for an answer.

"Well?" This time he shook her a little.

All the frightened teen could do was yelp a little, as the pain wracked her scalp.

"Wench!" with the last hurtful word out, he threw the girl down and stomped out the door.

Holding her head and biting her lip forcefully, the grieving girl stayed silent until her mother came from her bedroom. Mayahuel turned to her and hissed a few cusswords. They earned a fleeting smack to the ear. She looked into her mother's eyes of brown and spoke only once that day.

"One day…I'll be gone. I swear it." With that, she shrugged off the incident and began her day.

The Amini, the Hunter, hissed and descended the ramp to the temple below. On him, the Awa'usa, the armor, clanked menacingly. His Elder had ordered his shift to guard the temple to start and he was not looking forward to it. He clacked his lower mandibles against his mask, clashing daggers. He shivered and felt his skin bristle at the planet's atmosphere. How the Amini hated the strangeness of it. If the humans had not given them the God-like status and perfect hunts, the yautja, his kind, would probably have just killed them; not spent generations of the human's lives to teach them to build and live. He unlatched his spear from his belt and deftly squeezed the handle, releasing the duel spear points. The human priests gasped in surprise and he growled at them in response. Immediately, they fell to their knees. He shook his head in annoyance and returned to his post atop the large pyramid. There he stood for hours, never complaining, never moving, other than to survey his area assigned. Below him, life continued for the Pyode Amedha, the soft meat.

_One month later…_

_Night of the Full Pink Moon, (April) Tenochtitlan of Azteca _

Mayahuel frowned as she strode into her house. Her foster-father had not been calm of late. Her last beating had left her nearly dead on the floor. She had woken the next day in the fields, barely able to move, and had been attempting to recover for the past weeks. The teen shook her head at the noises coming from her parents' bedroom. The girl shook her hair to dry it more and removed her clothes, quickly replacing them with some fresh ones. The noises grew louder until they stopped. Mayahuel Warily looked at the door and crept past it to her bed. Suddenly, her father popped out the door in all of his naked hideousness. The fat man was disgusting. When his eyes met hers, he lurched forward.

"Let me go" she hissed, torn between a wish to burst into tears and another bring her dirty nails raking down across his face.

"A foretaste of what you'll be getting when you're eighteen." Said her foster father.

And then, slyly, horribly intimate, "You can touch it. He likes to be touched by a pretty ladies' hand."

Mayahuel snatched her hand back as if it had been burnt, and scrambled away from him, pulling the torn cloth that had been her clothing about her.

"Well now," he whispered, "The pretty girl thinks herself too good for me does she?" he moved across the floor, and Mayahuel thought wildly _he is ridiculous, he is comical_. You could not be afraid of a man who lunged at you with his trousers off and that_ thing_ hanging and flopping. She backed into a corner and looked about her for something to use as a weapon. He grabbed her roughly and half dragged, half threw her to her bed.

"So the pretty dear would escape me would she? Oh that'll never do…" he continued, moving his hands and pinning her with his bulk. "Did one of the boy's put it to you then? Did he do this and… this?"

His hands were pulling aside the cloth, reaching up between her legs, probing, stroking, and fingering. Mayahuel thought in horror _I believe I shall be sick. If he does not stop, I will be sick in his face! _Her father was panting and grunting now, a slick of sweat on his face.

"Oh, my…you are a tender one aren't you?"

"please-let me go…" she pleaded, still trying to get away.

There was a sudden convulsive movement and something gluttonous and warm spurted across Mayahuel's thighs. Her foster father sagged across her, still half on top. _I can't do this anymore. I think I'll be sick. I might just faint. What is this goo? It's all over my legs, it's disgusting! _The tortured girl thought to herself as her father stood and left the room without looking at her. She waited only enough time to wipe away most of the liquid from her legs, before taking her sandals and fresh clothes and jolting out the flap of the door. The wind was refreshing to her face. She walked as if she were one of the dead, not speaking and looking only at the dirt beneath her feet.

Mayahuel hissed to herself as she stumbled through the paths of the great city outskirts. It was believed that the Cihuacoatl, skull faced dead, walked the streets and kidnapped children too close to crossroads. She steadfastly avoided the streets turning points and numerous beggars. For an instant, she felt like one of them, like the dirtiest of the dirty. Mayahuel felt her tears betray her face hotly. She would be disgraced when word got around that she had run away. No one would force her back; just shun her. She would not get her rich husband and make her foster mother happy, nor would she become one of God's Messengers. She almost considered going home as the broken girl found her secret place, her glade. Slumping next to a fallen and rotted tree, the teen lost herself among the foliage of the forest, camouflaging herself. Mayahuel noticed something bright in the corner of her eye. She looked at it and nearly gasped aloud. The bird she had seen earlier lay there, his tongue lisping out of his beak and a glaze over his eyes. Mayahuel lay down next to the dead bird, allowing tears of hopelessness to loudly escape her. Now she truly understood what her sister had those years ago. Now she knew the fear and shame of her family. She sighed and gave up the hope of living past a few more days. She couldn't hide forever. The Messengers might come for her, and even if they didn't the animals would.

A few hours later, Mayahuel's mood fell even deeper as rain began to fall heavily, a seeming omen to her fate. She climbed an ancient Tule Tree (_Arbol Del Tule_) and settled in its large twisted branches for the night.

Even the night offered no rest for the human girl. She tossed and turned, tangling herself in the branches of her guardian tree. Nightmares haunted her dreams, humans searching, monsters eating, and a single sad woman staring at her through black hair…

_Day after the Pink Moon, outside the city of Tenochtitlan_

The next morning found the small girl cramped and bloody, vines tangled around her form. The beating she had received a few days before the attempted rape had been one of the worst moments of her tortured life. She winced as her wounds protested her stretch and the vines snapped in a popping sound. The world was fresh and new. Everything carried the dew of the rain and therefore it sparkled as a thousand tiny diamonds. Mayahuel shook her head from the remnants of the dream world and sat up. The teen hissed in pain and dropped from the branch, landing on her knees. She held her sides and coughed up blood. There was some pressure in her ribs that made it feel like she was trying to breath underwater and a sharp pain that raced up her spine every time she breathed. The sharp ache increased and made the torn girl cry aloud. She fell on her side and curled into a ball, whimpering at her predicament. Her vision dimmed and blinked out. The same dreams, this time with more intensity, haunted her. The girl she had seen was horrible, not at all the beauty she had witnessed before. Now she stood, her ribs broken outward and her eyelids cut off. Her eyes stared unblinking at Mayahuel and something unspoken roared around the black clouds and space. _Get up Mayahuel… Get up!_

Mayahuel's eyes shot open and she shivered, letting beads of sweat roll down her face and back. Something rumbled next to her, sounding much like thunder. Padded paws trotted against the wet dirt and the ruffling of fur sounded. She recognized in the corner of her eye a jaguar. She barely thought to move. The girl, forgetting her beaten body, jumped up and into the tree, she had fallen from earlier. Time slowed and everything seemed to take minutes to happen. The cat reacted almost as fast. Just as she scrambled to the highest branch, the large feline's claw caught her right leg. She screamed in horror and agony, her body convulsing and rippling. Almost as fast as she had gotten into the tree, she was on the ground again. Mayahuel landed in a heap on the cat. The beast yowled and jumped up, pouncing and hissing, limping on what must have been a broken leg. Mayahuel couldn't cry, she couldn't move. So she would not have to appeal to the God's Messengers. She wouldn't have to deal with the shame much longer. As the cat pounced, Mayahuel heard a snap from a branch. She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, and smiled.

_**Don't wake me if I'm dreaming…**_

Only a few feet from the broken girl's position sat an Amini, a hunter, in the wide branches of a Bodhi tree. He was garbed in thick silver metal, that of the Gods, and fishnet wiring. The worrier shook his head and hissed a sigh. As he shook his head, thick dreadlocks of obsidian swayed with him. He crouched as the cat hit the girl and watched the feline attempt to get at her throat. Surprisingly, she had managed to hurt the creature, in spite of the fact that she herself was badly wounded. Something then came over him. A memory from long ago perhaps, and he was lost for a moment in something he did not want to remember.

_She was crying softly, he could see that from behind Dachande. She had said something about being a Queenbearer and that had bothered many of the elders there. But it were her eyes that spoke volumes…_

He tensed and sprang from the large branch, snapping it nearly in half. Knocking the cat back and growling at it in a challenge, he smiled from behind his mask. This way beat guarding duty. The feline looked at him in shock for a moment and resumed its former anger and hungry expression. The animal's skin would look good on her, he thought. Smiling, the Amini danced with Death.

He attempted to get as little blood on the skin as possible. Behind him, on the other side of the cave, the human girl moaned. Turning for a moment, the Amini, the Hunter, watched her go silent. He stripped the rest of the skin from the dead animal and stood to hang it on a branch outside the cave entrance. This mountain was littered with small caves and it had been one of his many relaxation places when he was not on duty. Finished with that task, he turned to the small human. She was attractive for humans. Or, she would have been if the wounds hadn't obscured her real appearance. He stepped closer the scent of death wafted to her nose. She stirred a little. Shaking his head, the Amini reached back and unlatched his med kit from his back compartment on his armor. He brought it forward and opened it with a slight pressure on the fingerprint area. Smiling, he pulled the human's hair from her face and laid her in a recovery position. The Amini, the Hunter, carefully removed the ragged scraps of cloth she called her clothing, tossing them carelessly outside the cave. He ignored her supple mounds and core of her body and brought out a small tube of florescent blue liquid. Mixing the solution, the Amini began to heal her.

A few hours later, the deprived girl began to stir a little more. She opened her eyes and frowned. Why was she not dead? Who had saved her? _Why did they wake me up?_ She wobbled a little as she sat up. Then, feeling better, Mayahuel shook her legs and stood. For several moments, the room spun. Mayahuel looked to the ceiling of the cavern and steadied herself. Suddenly, her strength gave out and the Mayahuel closed her eyes, waiting for the stone floor's cold embrace. She felt something very different. Strong, muscular arms wrapped around her waist and supported her weight as if she weighed nothing. Mayahuel opened her eyes and screamed.

The Amini gasped as her screech reached his ears. He growled as she attempted to drop to her knees and bow. His hold tightened on her arms and waist in anger as he forced her to look at him.

"Amehuan tlachia nehua." He spoke quietly.

Mayahuel was surprised to hear her language come from his mouth. _You_ _look at me._ He had said. She looked upward and met the cold eyes of his mask. Did he know who she was? What she had done? She shivered, more from fear than fatigue, and whimpered as he let her feet gently touch the ground. Still, he did not let go, he seemed lost in thought.

One could get lost in those eyes, one could get lost indeed if he was not careful. The Amini continued to stare into her eyes, the human vision on his mask activated. Her emerald globes stared back at him, heavy with fear. He sighed and spoke gently again.

"Amiqui?" he asked. _Thirsty?_

"Amo." She lied after a moment of silence. _No._

Sensing she had been lying, the alien huffed a bit and shook his head. He gently swept her off her feet and carried her to the large river and ponds that lay a few yards out of the cave. She still looked nervous. Placing her on the ground, the Amini stared at her. The water did look sweet, but Mayahuel refused to drink in front of him. For moments, they waged a silent war. After mere seconds, the Amini, the Hunter, growled deep in his throat. Mayahuel dipped her hands into the chilly waters and lifted them to her crimson lips. The water was just as cool and sweet as she had imagined it. It ran down her throat, waking her up and giving her strength. After her fill, the Amini scooped her up again and walked steadily back to the cave. He had a few questions. Unfortunately, she beat him to asking.

"Why did you save me?" she huffed.

"Because, I had no reason not to." He did not like her tone with him.

"I _wanted _to die! Leave me alone!" she screamed.

"Human!" He roared. "You will speak respectfully to me!"

She shook her head and let tears run down her face. If he only knew.

"If…if you knew what I had done to my family…you'd kill me right now." She sobbed openly.

Instantly he felt sorry for her. He had not meant to make the small girl cry. Emotions sucked.

"What?" He asked as he leaned closer. "What have you done?"

"I…" she stopped for a moment. " I ran away from home…him…he tried to..."

With the last word, she broke down and cried. The Amini, the Hunter, had no clue what to do. He stood there awkwardly and stared at her. She was broken; he could tell she had been through enough to disturb anyone.

"What did he do?"

"He tried to rape me. M-my own father!" and she could say no more.

The Amini was aghast at this information. As the young woman sobbed, he stared at the wall. To his culture, rape was one of the worst things that could happen to a female (although they were generally bigger than males). To the humans, it was the right of the father to take his daughter. The Amini, the Hunter, went through procedure in his head to see what was called for in this situation. She was human and she had run away from home so she was void when it came to the law. But something inside him called for compassion. Something his race had very little of. The Amini, the Hunter, shook his head in shame when he remembered what he had to do. Purity in a human female was imperative to keep her alive this time and if he wanted to save her, he was going to have to…check her body.

"I have to check."

"Check what?"

"To see…if you're still pure."

"What? I am, I'm pure I swear! Please don't do that! Please!" she was hysterical.

He shook his head and his shoulders slumped. He didn't want to hurt her. The Amini, the Hunter, frowned on the inside of his mask. Sometimes he hated being compassionate. He could just take her home and be done with her. But the thought of her being successfully raped next time made him angrier than he had been in a long time. It was such an injustice!

"I have to…that or take you home." He gazed at her fearful eyes.

Mayahuel cried as she protected what lay between her legs with her hands. Not again! The thought of him brought her back to the early day and the feelings of her foster-father touching her. She attempted to get away from him. He did not attempt to follow her, until she got close to the edge of the cave. The large male shot his hand out and pinned her with it. With his other, he pinned her hands above her head. She screamed and thrashed as he freed one hand and plunged it below. Mayahuel thought she would be sick. She could feel his fingers between her legs, delving deeper and deeper until they made contact with her hymen. She cried and thrashed as he pulled his hand from her and stood. It had taken less than a minute for him to verify her purity. But the damage done to her would be permanent. His shoulders were slumped and he stood in a position of disgrace.

"I'm sorry for...that." he apologized.

Mayahuel crumpled up and put her hands between her legs. It was the only place that didn't hurt. She whimpered as he drew close and brushed a few stray hairs from her face. He was gentle.

"What is your name little one?" He whispered.

"M-Mayahuel." Tears began to fall again.

The alien frowned at her apparent fear and the name she had given him. There was a little girl by the name of Mayahuel said to be missing and un-honorable. Her story proved it. He wiped away the stray tears with his thumb and leaned closer. She flinched at his touch. Her breath was ragged.

"You…ran away from home... because of your father?"

"Foster father."

"Your foster father?"

"Yes"

The Amini let out a stream of profanities.

"Do not go by the name Mayahuel anymore." His tone was final.

"Why?" she looked up at him.

"The others will kill you. You are…un-honorable."

"y-you won't kill me? Why?" She sounded like she wanted him to.

"…no." he was struck by another fleeting moment of compassion for the girl. He had to get rid of those.

There was a long pause only broken by the hushed sounds of Mayahuel's sobs. The Amini hissed and decided. He could take her to his temple and substitute another of the slave girls for her body. All he'd have to say is the gods killed her. He could mutilate the body's face and limbs to make her unrecognizable, then give the real girl another name to go by and possibly save her. It sounded more complicated than it really was.

"I will give you a new name… it might save you."

"Why?" she was still shaken.

"You are…innocent. No harm done."

She gazed at him as if he was an angel. Complete with wings.

He thought of a proper name for the little damsel. Chalchiuitl? (Emerald) No, not after the color of her eyes. Cihuaton? (Little Woman) No, too offending. The firecracker of a girl would probably hit him. Xochiyotl? He thought for a moment. It sounded graceful. "Heart of a gentle flower"…perfect.

"Thank you… your Holiness."

He was ripped from his trance by her soft voice.

"y-you're welcome…" For what, he did not know. "I think I will name you…Xochiyotl."

Mayahuel was stunned by his given name for her. "Heart of a gentle flower?" she frowned and looked down.

"Why…that?" she whispered.

"Do you not like it?" he answered.

Mayahuel looked upward and found his face to be only inches from her own. She flinched back and held herself tighter. Again, he brushed stray hairs from her face. She frowned deeper and shivered at his touch. The compassion flew from his heart as if a giant hand had swiped it away. Suddenly, he lost all sweetness and stood.

"I have made clothing for you. Wear it. I must return to my temple, I have been gone far too long."

Mayahuel looked upward and nodded. There was an icy silence before he nodded and turned to leave.

"W-wait!" Mayahuel attempted to stand.

Instead, she settled for crawling on the floor. The alien turned and gazed back at the pathetic girl. He hissed and clicked his mandibles against his mask.

"What…what's your name? Your Holiness?" she whispered from her position at his feet.

"Cit'lal-i, Guard of the temple of Mixcoatl, God of the Hunt." He spoke matter-of-factly.

"Can…can I serve you? Will you give me a chance…to be more…than just a dead body?"

Cit'lal-i thought for a moment. He had no use for a slave, but… she was shamed for something she had not done. Another moment of compassion hit him. How annoying.

"I reside at the Temple of Mixcoatl." And he turned without another word.


	3. The Seventh Heaven

The Seventh Heaven

Coyolxauhqui, Goddess of the Moon, stared from her position around the obsidian seeing stone. She growled to herself and gazed back up at the numerous Gods and Goddesses surrounding the looking glass.

"So, what are we all here for?" She hissed deeper.

"Calm down, Coyolxauhqui. Mayahuel asked us to help her." Mixcoatl, God of the Hunt, frowned at his sister's lack of patients.

"Well, she needs to do it herself! I have things to do! The moon cycle is already off!" the goddess huffed.

"Quiet!" now Mictlan, God of the lowest level of the underworld, added his voice to the chorus.

"Yes, please!" Tezcatlipoca, God of the night, temptation, sorcery, beauty, and war, shouted out of frustration.

Xochipilli, Xochiquetzal, and Ixtlilton all sat at their respective places around the stone and shook their heads. Xochipilli, Goddess of Erotic Love, was the first to let out a small sigh. Xochiquetzal, Goddess of beauty, nodded in agreement and gazed back to the stone. She nudged Ixtlilton in the ribs and pointed to the stone.

"Everyone look!" the God of medicine and healing pointed to the stone.

"What? Why's he leaving?" Xochipilli screamed. "He was supposed to-"

He was cut off by many voices at once.

The Gods and Goddesses frowned and leaned closer to the stone. They spoke to each other in hushed, urgent tones. They had not planned this.

"Someone works against us." Tezcatlipoca frowned.

"But who would dare so?" Mixcoatl hissed through his teeth.

"They will fail."

The sudden statement caught the deities off guard. The Goddess of the Moon was frowning down at the obsidian stone with her hands crossed in front of her chest. She looked pissed off.

"Why do you say that, Coyolxauhqui?" Xochiquetzal asked tonelessly.

"I will not be undone!" the Moon Goddess shouted.

Abruptly she turned and left the others still surrounding the rock.

The goddess huffed and stepped faster down the cloudy marble of the steps to the Temple of Light. How she hated to be undone! The moon would work to intertwine these two as much as she could. She growled aloud and took flight on her wings of moonlight toward her own temple. When Coyolxauhqui reached her own doors, she shoved them open with a loud bang of the stone. She shouted for her servants to come to her as she slumped on her throne of silk.

"Yes my lady?" a female star asked.

The "Stars" were female servants of the Moon. They were known to the lowly mortals as the Citialin and were the most wonderful shape-shifters in all the heavens. Coyolxauhqui figured it was her right to have them in her service. They constantly came in handy. The Moon Goddess looked down at the star in front of her.

"I want you to appear as this little girl and pleasure the male yautja known as Cit'lal-i. Tease him." As she spoke, the Goddess waved her hand and a clear image of the small human Mayahuel appeared standing next to her. She waved her hand and the image was gone.

"I will make it appear as a dream." She added with finality. "Go, my dear Nelli, and help him love her."

"As you wish my lady…but, don't you need the God of temptation to make him lust for me?"

The Goddess of the Moon frowned and nodded. She stood and sang out her brother's name in the purest voice. In a matter of seconds, Tezcatlipoca appeared at her door.

"What do you want?" he huffed in apparent annoyance.

"Make him lust for her." Coyolxauhqui spoke sternly.

"Why?" he looked suspicious. He knew whom she spoke of.

"Just do it, brother…it will do no harm."

"Very well, but I will not bow to your whim every moment…remember that." And with that, the God disappeared.

Coyolxauhqui looked back to her silent Nelli, her servant. She nodded and closed her eyes, slumping back into her throne. Sometimes being a Goddess wasn't worth it. She shook that thought away and silently drifted off to sleep.

Tezcatlipoca knew there was something up when his sister called on him. He had delivered her wish and left without another thought. As he returned to the seeing stone, he frowned and noticed only the Goddess of beauty was there.

"Where have the others gone?" he asked sheepishly.

She was too stunning to speak sternly to.

"They have retired to their own temples to work their magic." Xochiquetzal frowned.

"Then why do you remain?" he smiled.

"Does it bother you that I am here, my dear Tezcatlipoca?" she smiled back.

"No."

"Then I will continue to watch my little girl." And she did.

_First Night of the Waning Pink Moon, Temple of Mixcoatl_

Cit'lal-i frowned as he tossed in his bed. He could not get her out of his mind! The image of her torn and tattered body was horrid and burned into his memory. He growled and opened his eyes fiercely. The yautja stood and hissed, walking to the bathroom, he splashed water on his face to clear his mind and returned to his silken bed. He hissed and closed his eyes again.

Sometime later, he felt a slight pressure on his sheets. He turned and opened his eyes. He was not sure he was awake. Before him, on all fours, was his little "flower heart". She had next to nothing on and her body pleased his eyes. He felt himself begin to yearn for her, to feel her silken skin underneath him as he sated his hunger. He hissed and sat up. In the back of his mind, he could hear a million warnings of tricks, deceit, and dreams but he quickly silenced them. All he cared about was her, here and now. The voluptuous lumps of Mayahuel's silken flesh incited him as she neared him.

The fake Mayahuel smiled and bit her lip in a lustful way. He would lust for both the real and the fake before the night was done. She would not allow him to wake until then.

With shaking hands, he went to meet her on the bed.

"This is only a dream, Amini. The real me…is just a slave." And the star Nelli allowed him to wake to the day.

Cit'lal-i heard the girl's words in his ear. She was not a slave, she was a…runaway! She was a _life_ and she had stolen his… had she? When he opened his eyes to confront her, Cit'lal-i was met with the ceiling of his room. The sheets were ruffled around his legs, pinning him while the light winds from his open window danced with his overhang. He hissed in annoyance and sat upright. Nothing was different; he couldn't even smell her on his skin. For moments, he felt the remnants of the dream fade from his memory. He hated it when he couldn't remember a dream. The Amini stood and stepped down the three steps that led to his bed and stumbled to the far door. His bathtub and large waterfall-like showers soothed him even before he stepped into the hot mineral waters. As the water soothed his tense muscles, Cit'lal-i let his mind wander back to the small girl. The forest around her had made the vision serene and horrifying at the same time. She had been…interesting for a human. Then again, he had never really been close to humans, other than the ones that served him. Despite all of this, he could not, for the life of him, remember what she had looked like in his dream. He couldn't remember anything of the night, only that it was the most wonderful thing her had ever experienced and that he would give up all hunts if only to relive it with her for real. He paused at that last thought. No female was worth the Hunt. Cit'lal-i hissed and cleared his thoughts from his head by dunking in the large bathwaters. He watched the murky green mineral-heavy waters flow around him until his lunges burned for air. When his head again peeked up, he clicked his mandibles in a final note and forgot all about the Aztec teen.

_On guard duty…_

The air was moist and searing, even more so in the Awa'usa. The stifling armor cupped Cit'lal-I's sweat and kept it against him. The humans were moaning and chanting again, something about Gods and their Guardians. Cit'lal-I ignored it, as he usually did. It made no difference to him what happened to the humans. The trees rustled as a calming wind blew around the temple of Hunters. It gave Cit'lal-I a break from the horrid heat and humidity before it retreated again. He returned to his watch of the Temple. Always watching, always waiting. Till the Gods come home.


	4. This Side of Paradise

_Second Night of the Waning Pink moon, cave outside Tenochtitlan _

It was not as hard as Mayahuel would have thought to live on her own. In fact, it was much like living with her "family". She already knew where everything was and what she could eat from the forest; she had learned that when she was little. But everything, despite her elevated mood and painful wounds, seemed to fly by, the days turned into minutes and minutes into mere seconds. Something nagged at the girl from the back of her mind and for some reason she could not shake the feeling of loneliness.

Mayahuel frowned into the running water of the river. The skins the God Guardian had dried for her had made fine clothing. The obsidian fur curved with her movement and flowed like silk in the winds. She looked back at the face that moved in the clear pool. Scratches from her style of life and weariness were written on her features. She looked years older rather than weeks. Something about being _touched _by the Guardian had changed her. She shook her head and stood. Mayahuel clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and gazed back up into the bright morning sky. The sun was nearly half up now and very little light shone through the thick trees. The small girl looked back to her rabbit traps and smiled. She had plenty of food for the next few days. Maybe she could spare some time and work on her appearance. She certainly wanted to please her new master when she got to the temple. Mayahuel removed her clothing and sandals and dipped into the cool clear waters of the river, leaving them in a heap next to a tree. She sighed as the water swept the dirt and grime from her body. Mayahuel could feel the feeling drip from her skin with the dirt as she washed with a "soap plant", a foul smelling stringy weed that grew along the banks of most water. When she feared for her toes, the girl lifted herself from the river and balled her hair up at the nape of her neck; using the whisker of the jaguar her savoir had killed, to tie it firmly. Feeling fresh and rejuvenated, Mayahuel lifted her feet and began to walk "home".

The deep depths of the cave provided some comfort when Mayahuel arrived home. She set her things down and began to build a fire to chase the cold from her bones. Her fire was still burning lightly and the rabbit meat she had set aside on sticks was finely cooked. She smiled wider at the pile of scraps she had previously called her clothing. Mayahuel shook her head, slumped on the ground, and snatched a rabbit from over the fire. As she bit into the deep brown meat, Mayahuel thought back to the alien's actions. He had been overly gentle, even through the "purity check", and had genuinely seemed like he had wanted to help her. After all, she HAD been innocent! It was her foster father's problem, not hers. Mayahuel bit down on the meat hard and tore a chunk away. Suddenly, she felt a liquid pool on her tongue. Seconds later, the pain hit.

"Frick!" she screamed, holding her mouth to keep the meat from spilling out.

Blood welled up on her tongue from her apparent anger and idiocy. Holding her food in, the girl swallowed the meat and the blood that had pooled. She opened her mouth and felt the little bump where she had bitten her tongue. It still hurt like hell. Mayahuel hissed to herself and swallowed the rest of the meat, throwing the other meal for the coyotes. She huffed a bit and pulled her previous clothing about her to get warmer than the warmth the night offered. Staring into the smoldering fire, she drifted off to sleep.

_Night of the Full Flower Moon, (May) Below the Temple of Mixcoatl_

Mayahuel frowned at the large temple before her. The Temple of Mixcoatl was lined at the bottom with numerous skulls and bones. The stale stench of flesh wafted from the men and women coming from the temple steps. It had taken her hours to march all the way to the center of the city and the temples in it. Mayahuel stifled a shiver and repeated her new name repeatedly in her head. Hopefully her savoir would recognize her name, maybe even her look. The teen took a deep breath as she began to ascend the 5000 steps that led to the top. _Xochiyotl, Xochiyotl, Xochiyotl… _

Every fiber in her being ached for oxygen as the newly named Xochiyotl conquered the top step. She panted heavily and rested her head between her legs as she allowed herself to breathe. No wonder the Amini and preists were all in good shape! They had to do this maybe even four times a day! Everything hurt and when the ache began to subside, Xochiyotl could think again. A shroud of darkness came over her humbled form. She let her head rest on the ground as a very gravelly voice growled at her.

"What have you come for peasant?" he asked.

Xochiyotl took a moment to say the proper greeting to the Amini. She never lifted her head. He grunted with inpatients and lightly tapped her with his foot to let her know she was starting to annoy him.

"I have come…to see the Honored…Cit'lal-i." she barely whispered.

For moments, nothing happened. Then, without warning, the Amini lifted her by her hair and shook the girl into facing him and his brethren. He roared and hissed long notes as his brothers nodded and stared. The priests fell to their knees as all of the messengers roared in apparent anger and frustration.

"You? See him? How dare you!" and the Amini threw her to the ground.

"I-I'm sorry…forgive me my lord!" Xochiyotl managed to sputter out as she was tossed roughly to the stone.

"Do you think you are worthy enough to see him? Do you?" he shouted again.

"n-no!" she yelped louder, trying to save her hide.

The Amini was joined by two others who also began to kick and throw her. She was tossed hard and landed a few steps down the temple. When the young woman attempted to stand, a heavy metal foot was laid across her back.

"I don't think so, little flower. You're going somewhere else."

She heard voices but was concentrating on keeping her consciousness. As the people above her head conversed, all she could think about was the promise Cit'lal-i had made her. She wanted to be his slave, to redeem what little honor she could. Abruptly, Xochiyotl was yanked to her feet by her hair again. She yelped in pain and looked into the eyes of her captor's mask. Blood began to trickle down the back of her neck.

"You'd make a good sacrifice, little one. Mixcoatl will love you." And he yanked her hair harder.

The last thing she remembered of that day was the look of the eyes of her captor's mask as he deftly punched her in the throat.

Xochiyotl woke with the worst headache she had ever had. She shook her head, but that only made it worse. Moaning with pain, the girl pulled herself into a ball and cupped her head with her hands. A clanking of metal brought her to reality. She opened her eyes to the dim light and found herself shackled to the wall. Though they were loose now, the simple pull of a lever and she would be hopeless. The priests commonly referred to the chains as "curixja" or the "binding chains". She shivered at the thought. Xochiyotl looked around in the darkness and then at the ground. She had chosen to come here. But something told her that it was a very bad idea. Amini were not kind to humans. That's just the way it was. Suddenly, she didn't care if she lived in shame, she just wanted to live. Live to see another sun, period. Xochiyotl was aware of other forms in the cage with her. She gazed in their direction and frowned. They were all in way better shape than she was. Xochiyotl hissed at one of the unchained girls to come to her. They all whimpered and shrank back as if in fear.

"For the love of the Gods! I'm chained!" she screamed at them.

"I know." Someone behind her whispered. She whipped her head around and found herself face to face with her captor. The girls whimpered louder than Xochiyotl, but she whimpered none the less. Her captor moved from his position at the entrance to the door of the cage and deftly opened it. A stink wafted from him as he stepped into Xochiyotl's personal space. The creature, the Amini, smelt of stale Naxa (Alcohol) and dried meat. He leaned down and sniffed her hair. As the monster exhaled, he groaned out of pleasure.

"I like you, slave. And I have been hungry as of late…" He sounded more tired than aroused.

Xochiyotl attempted not to scream as the large Amini's hand trailed to her breasts. Why did the males always go for her breasts and the area between her legs? She squirmed when he cupped her face with his other hand. Letting go of her chest, the monster unhooked his mask with a hiss. She had never seen one of their faces before and so it did not prepare her for his visage. The mask dropped to the stone floor carelessly. She could hardly call it a face. He had four fleshy mandibles that protruded from his lipless mouth. Razor sharp tusks grew from them and were yellowed from obvious misuse. She bit back a sob as she looked deeper. His forehead was wide and a light brown with small spikes lining it. His eyes…they glowed a sickly yellow color, pupils dilated in arousal. With his hand holding her face firmly, the creature brought his inner mouth to hers. His mandibles forced her lips to part as he pulled her more forcefully to him. His tongue plunged into her mouth as he explored every crevice of her body with his hands. By this time, Xochiyotl was struggling with her weak limbs to escape him. The chains bit into her ankles and wrists and spewed deep blood. She shrieked into his mouth and attempted to bite his tongue as he continued to roam with his hands. The Amini hissed angrily and pulled back, his hand so tight on her cheek his claws drew more blood.

"I will make you wet for me little one…I have my ways." He smiled.

Suddenly, his hand trailed down her front to her thighs. He brought his nails up between her legs underneath her furry skirt, and rubbed what lay beneath there. Xochiyotl screamed as loud as she could. Why were the Gods doing this to her? Had she deserved such a horror? The creature did not stop in his ministrations. He smiled and went to undo the strap holding up her jaguar skirt. A sound, much like growl, boomed at the entrance. Daring a look to the light of the door to the room, Xochiyotl nearly cried aloud. Well, she would have if she could. She could hear clicking and rapid taps of mandibles before her tormentor bowed his head in shame. Shame? Though her gaze was dimming, Xochiyotl dared another look to the shadow at the door. The figure stood regally and angrily as if someone had pissed him off just by being there. He looked much like the pose of the God of the Hunt in the central room of the temple. Xochiyotl shook her head and as she did, her vision went black.

Cit'lal-I could not believe his eyes. How could a fellow comrade do this to a human? They may be below them, but they were sentient and that meant they had special rights! He growled after a moment, for the creature seemed to not notice his approach. The creature would pay either with his honor of with his life. He didn't care about either one. Cit'lal-I couldn't believe she had actually come. Her black hair was frizzy and her skin oily from her predicament. She leaked blood from wounds and her arms were blackened from the beating she had received. As the other comrade walked up to Cit'lal-I he growled and took the male by his mandibles.

"Don't you ever touch my property again." he hissed in the other's face.

The other only nodded in compliment before striding off with and embarrassed look on his face.

Cit'lal-I turned his attention to the girls in the cage. He hissed a long note after looking down at the small girl. What had he named her? Ah yes, Xochiyotl. She was not in the best shape. What the hell had she been thinking coming here? He shook his head balefully at her sunken form and crouched to her height. She was chained and beaten and her clothes had been torn. The Amini was grateful he had his mask on for once. He could tell by her shape that she would wreak of torture and grime and all things unclean. Tired of sitting in the confined cage of the sacrifice cages, the Hunter lifted a knife from his knee holster and struck each one of the chains just above the joint it held. One by one, the things snapped and with a clang, he lifted her into his arms... and threw her over his shoulder. Cit'lal-I was surprised by her weight. He cocked his head and then shook it again. One of the girls reached up to his new little slave as if to wake her up from her sleep. The Amini growled loudly and hunched his back in threat, pulling the little teen on his back from the girl's reach. She had no right to touch what belonged to him! With a final growl and following hiss, Cit'lal-I stepped from the musty confines of the slave chambers and out into the bright sun of the Aztec Empire. And Xochiyotl didn't even stir.


	5. Chrysanthemum

_The Seventh Heaven_

"Ugh!" it was rare to see Mixcoatl lose his temper.

But when he did, most everyone was sorry.

The God of the Hunt roared again and stopped his feet through the temple.

"What's wrong this time Mixcoatl?" Ixtlilton asked, clasping his hands in his robes.

"Don't speak that tone to me, Joker!"

"I still resent that name-"

"I don't care what you resent!"

An angry silence followed and resounded through the halls of the War temple. The dark granite walls and cold sandstone flooring echoed the God's last roar. Even the throne was of stone, covered and layered in fine silk cloth and overstuffed pillows. And on the throne, though usually in his hand otherwise, was the God's Choca double-bladed spear. (The weeping spear) Called so by its ability to carry and disperse poisons from both its blades.

The God of the Hunt moved toward his spear and gazed down at its silver-laced glory.

"They were meant to be Hunters. They were NOT meant to carry slave girls and to become soft-hearted freaks!" the God turned and hissed through his sharp teeth.

"The species themselves have not become soft-hearted. And maybe Mayahuel means for the good of them if this all comes out the way she had planned. She's a powerful little Demigod." Ixtlilton shifted on his feet a little.

"I will not bow to her for much longer, Joker." And with the final word, he disappeared behind the massive throne and toward his own chambers.

"I am not that much of a game God." Ixtlilton muttered to himself as he vanished with a wisp of robe and flutter of light.

The Goddess of the Moon smiled to herself. She was the most beautiful thing in the universe. And had been for millions of years. The Goddess ruffled her silken gold hair with a wave of her hand. Then she laughed. And the sound echoed through her halls and to the space in the front of her temple.

"I am beautiful!" she sighed into the floor as it served as her mirror.

"Yes my lady you came up with the word." Nelli was back and full of light.

The experience with the hunter had given Nelli a shred of hope in her heart. Perhaps one day someone would love her, not just for her body but her soul as well. The star could smile at that thought.

"No, I created that word, dear star."

Both the star and the Goddess whipped their heads around for that word. Before them, or rather behind them, stood the Goddess of beauty herself.

"Well, certainly you meant it for me." Coyolxauhqui smiled and fluffed her hair again.

"Actually Vanity would be a better word for you."

"It would not!"

"One of the Seven Deadly Sins."

"No!"

"The only thing that can truly kill a Goddess….or God for that matter."

"Stoppit!" Coyolxauhqui said the word so fast it sounded like one word by itself.

Xochiquetzal frowned at the Goddess and then replaced the frown with a smile. She had come to think of the Goddess of the Moon as a delinquent child. She would never grow up. The Goddess of Beauty smiled to herself as her Vain Goddess sister shouted and cried for help. The Seven Deadly Sins were the only things that could kill the Gods and Goddesses. The more sin they committed, the more they grew weak and helpless. Xochiquetzal hissed through her teeth at the Moon before her feet. She was vain as could be. And it would only be her undoing.

_Inside the Temple of Mixcoatl, room of an Amini_

Xochiyotl frowned as she stirred. Everything on her still body hurt. Her limbs and even lungs felt as if they were lead, she didn't want to move in the slightest. But when the small teen did move, when she stirred only a little, she could tell something. She was nude. The girl freaked and writhed a little more in her bed and she noticed another oddity. Not only was she nude, but she was sleeping in a feather down bed with silken sheets! She had never felt silk in her life before, and it interred her to know now that someone or something had carried her here. Then a horror popped into her head. Everything hurt on her…except between her legs. She moved her hands sluggishly between them and felt nothing but smooth skin. No one had ravaged her sleeping body, thank the Gods. Xochiyotl closed her eyes and cried herself to sleep again in the silk sheets of the feather bed.

The deep burgundy of the sheets ruffled some time later that week. Xochiyotl huffed a little and stretched her sore limbs under the sparse covering. She noticed vaguely that she had been moved to one side of the bed, but pushed the thought out of her mind sluggishly. Pushing the sheets off her body and standing, Xochiyotl whimpered a little and remembered she was naked just as the last ruffle of cloth hit the bed. At first, she fell from the bed and onto the cold stone floor with a loud thud. Then, as she regained her balance, the Aztec girl noticed a few more oddly colored ruffles of fur at the end of the mattress. And she remembered she was nude. She held up the obsidian fur and noticed its odd shape and amount. Clothing.

Just as Xochiyotl was finished tying the last knot over her black and blue body, an Amini opened the door with a hiss and grinding of stone.

Cit'lal-i was surprised to see her up and about. He was even more surprised to see she had found her clothing. It seemed to fit her right. He hissed and growled at the shock of seeing her bruised and beaten. She looked horrible but despite the bruises, cuts, and scratches, she was beautiful. He noticed her looking at him for moment, and then she frowned and lunged. The noise started just as her little fists hit his chest for the first time. She squealed, shouted, and wailed as she pounded his chest uselessly. Cit'lal-i did not smirk or hit her. He knew she was scared and depressed. He had taken her from the slave cages for God's sake! She had been beaten and disgraced more than once by his people and had been abandoned by her family. The Hunter thought about the girl for a moment before she began to calm down.

Xochiyotl shouted as she realized who this particular Amini was. She shouted at him at the top of her lungs and launched herself into the Amini's arms. Or it looked like she did from the way she tripped and fell into him. As he caught her, she continued to scream and banter him as loud as she could. It was almost comical for him to see her beating her tiny fists on his chest in anger. Soon her energy began to run out. The small girl felt herself begin to slip away. Before she could even think of falling asleep, she had to say one more thing.

"Aic mopopolhuilia."

(I will never forgive you.)

The creature looked down at her and nodded. His reply was quick and short.

"Quema"

(Yes)

He seemed to brush it off, and then he did something she defiantly didn't want him to do. He slung his arms under her legs and, with much protest, dropped her in the bed. He clicked at her a moment and simply told her to stay. Then, the creature turned and fled from the room with his weapons clanging at his sides.

When Cit'lal-i returned, the small girl was sound asleep. He laughed a little and smiled as he set a tray on the table in a corner of the room. The scent of the food wafted from the silver tray and made his mouth water. But he had other business to contend to right now. The Hunt was imminent for him and four others of his kind. They were to travel around the world and Hunt in another continent. He knew the human in his bed would not let him off so easily, therefore, Cit'lal-i laid some more clothes out and left her a small note in her language. The Amini paused at the door and looked backward at his room. The sun was setting, painting a beautiful picture through the heavy cotton curtains. He roamed his eyes over to his large bed. She lay in it, sprawled out much like a starfish, and was sighing every now and then. He smiled a little at her innocence and then turned and stomped out of the room.

Cit'lal-i stopped again outside the door. Something felt wrong.

"Goodbye" he whispered to the floor in front of him.

And as the Hunter walked to his ship, he felt a weight hit his chest. He would worry for her. Yes, he would worry, but he would not give up the Hunt.

_On the Ned'tes'eie, Cit'lal-i's room_

Cit'lal-i frowned into the ceiling of his bunk. Word had gotten around that he had 'saved' the human girl and that he wanted her as a mate. What a laugh. The simple thought of what his comrade had been doing to Xochiyotl was disturbing at the least and it made the Hunter's blood boil to think of it. The Hunter narrowed his eyes at the ensuing silence that echoed around the metal room. He was used to the silence on the ships. The ship was gliding among the atmosphere of the blue planet like greased skates on ice. There was no sound from the engines or rudders or any mechanical parts on the ship. It was designed to be silent as an owl and deadly as a serpent. The species after all was reptilian. Cit'lal-i found himself dozing and for a second he thought he saw… Xochiyotl? Why would she be on the ship? He shook his head to clear her vision from his sight. Standing, the Amini decided that some training was needed. He growled to himself as his sore limbs shifted from the bed. The floor was cool and hard under his four-toed feet. It helped to clear his mind. There was a shift in the ship's gravity for a split second. Something was wrong. Why would the ship do that? He growled again as it shifted once more and then he smiled, turning. They were close to their destination. Training, Cit'lal-i reminded himself. Training. The Hunter hissed a long note of a sigh and then turned toward the door to leave. The Ki'cit'pa, the fighting ring, was loaded with Hunters ready to shed blood. Cit'lal-I was reminded of when he had been an Unblood, a newborn pup. The scent of aggression and bloodlust was heavy in the room. As the door slid shut behind him, Cit'lal-I growled and moved to one of the rings.


	6. Let There be Cinderella!

Xochiyotl frowned at the scent in her nostrils. Food. As if in whining protest, her stomach began to complain. Eyes shooting open, she sat up in the bed and huffed to herself. He was gone again. How dare she fall asleep on him? The girl bit her fingers, ignoring the pain each bite caused.

"Aaaarrgh!" Xochiyotl shouted at herself.

Another whine from her innards reminded her that she was painfully hungry. The teen stumbled to the table laden with food, saying her usual blessings to all of the Gods and Goddesses. She smiled, noticing she could walk with the slightest pain today. Shoving a large slab of bread in her mouth, Xochiyotl smiled, looking toward the forbidden door and wondering where the Amini was. Then she saw his note. Xochiyotl roared to herself after reading the simple message in his elegant script. How had he known how to write in her language? And why hadn't he woke her up?

Xochiyotl,

I must leave for the Hunt. Eat, wash, and do what you must to help yourself. The room behind the bed is forbidden and locked. I will return shortly.

Cit'lal-i

She slammed the note down, crumpling it. She huffed and sat in the overstuffed chair next to the small table with a puff. As Xochiyotl shoved another piece of bread in her mouth, she thought. He was tall, well built, and powerful. He obviously had rank and esteem. The Hunting temple was one of the strongest and highly esteemed temples of the great city. And she was his slave. The pride of being a personal slave to an Amini filled in her chest. Many males and females were personal slaves, most not treated nearly as well as she was. The girl shook her head in exhaustion. The rest of the day, she felt that little twinge of pride in her stomach when she would think of the Amini. However, even as the pride filled her chest, thoughts raged her mind. Why had he not been there when she had first come to see him? Why had he let the others get to her? He told her he would be there! He told her she could be his slave! Then, in the middle of drawing a bath for herself, the small Aztec teen stopped. She was asking herself these things? Since when had she been holy enough to ask things of an Amini? It was out of place! Xochiyotl resisted punishing herself, there were enough bruises on her arms and fingers to testify her homeliness. She lightly stepped into the warm water of the tub and relaxed. The bathing room was off the bedroom and had its own curtain to cover the doorway. Xochiyotl still marveled at everything in the temple. It was like a whole other world inside the walls of bone and rock. A grinding noise 25 minutes into her soaking bath made the teen gasp. She held still and quiet for minutes as shuffling sounded in the room only a cloth away from her. The small sounds ended a while later and the door shut again. Xochiyotl thanked all of the God's and Goddesses by name and then stood from the bath. Her fingers were pruny and she felt laden with water. She felt oddly at ease in this home, in what she could actually call a house. It was far away from the diminutive and degrading place she had grown up in. something about this place, even being alone was blissful.

Her next task was unthinkable. Help herself? She had eaten, bathed, and had clothed herself with what the other, who had obviously been a house cleaner, left on the bed… now what? Xochiyotl was pressed to find something to do. She was growing bored with the stillness of the stone temple. The noise was pleasant but unfamiliar to her ears. Millstones, traders talking and shouting, beasts giving off their usual roars, and the occasional child could be heard even all the way up in the temple. The Aztecs were loud. No wonder the Gods thought they were annoying! They never shut up! Xochiyotl leaned back in her comfortable chair and sighed. Her hair was still damp on the back of the seat and she could feel the pleasant coolness from the moisture. She thought about how she would usually be dusty, dirty from work by now, and almost dead from exhaustion. Then it hit her. Dust and dirt and all matter of unpleasant things. She could clean! There was no way the house cleaner had cleaned the room so quickly. Xochiyotl launched from her chair and to the bathroom as if she had sat on a Prickly Pear bush.

The room looked pleasant, but when Xochiyotl had piled every bit of furniture onto the bed, she could see the disgusting amounts of dirt and pollen on the floors and even on the furniture. Walking over to the wall, she pushed a section of brick and it bounced back to show a small cabinet. A broom, a mop and a large bucket, and a small bag of soap leaves showed. Grabbing the broom, Xochiytol closed the cabinet again and swept the dirty, grimy floor. Something about the motion felt right…

Cit'lal-i smiled giddily. These humans ran with speed and noise. They were easy to catch for him. The Hunter watched them cuddle in a circle in the middle of a field. He had never thought that to be too smart. One of the large sky snakes could vault down and catch them too easily. The human kind had so many natural predators that it was a wonder they still lived. At the thought of a sky snake, the Hunter flashed back to his first Hunt with one. The glory, the preteige the Hunter had been given for bringing down something so…dangerous and smart. That was what mattered. Danger.

_They were intelligent to say the least. Their fiery scales glistened and their teeth and claws cut through his armor like a knife through water. And their roar was something to be heard. They could fly, spit smoke, and bring forth a torrent of rain in only hours. It was amazing. And deadly. The yautja usually stayed away from the beasts, only the bravest went for the creatures. And the humans in the area had not been the best of the species. But one of Cit'lal-i's first Hunts had been with a sky snake. It had vaulted out of the air, coiling and twisting and roaring in fury. He had been scared stiff and for that the great serpent had given the scar on his back and a talon from its right paw…_

Cit'lal-i shook his head and growled to relieve himself of the annoying memory. It had not been him that had killed the creature, so why remember it? The Hunter crouched and sprang for the next reachable branch. He was roughly 30 feet in the air and didn't want the humans to know where he was right now. It wasn't like their horrid swords and useless magic could do him too much harm. Then another memory, one of his teachings, covered him again.

_But in the far, far north they had found something different. Not a sky snake, nor a land beast. No, this was far more deadly and dangerous. The yautja had called them the Hard Meat. They were a bitch to kill. What with their black skin and roiling rows of teeth. They had two mouths and from both sprang thick goo and hisses of death. They were even deadly in death for their blood was of acid and melted anything upon contact. They were all things loathsome…_

Again Cit'lal-i shook his head and hissed. He had to stay focused. The Hunter had the humans cornered and scared. He would show himself to them to show off his prowess to the other UnBloods watching right now. They would tell of his Hunt before the next sun set. Cit'lal-i smiled and fell from the tree above the human's heads. They jumped and shouted in their odd tongue to each other. The Amini simply pressed a button and showed himself as if out of thin air. Their reaction was priceless. They shouted and then went silent. He was a good four feet taller than them and a great deal heavier. It was almost a laugh to call them prey. But he did and stayed there in the same position for moments. Then one launched. The Hunter took a step forward and allowed the blade to scrape his chest plate harmlessly as he snatched the human by his throat and leveled his vision with the Hunter's. Humans never weighed more than a spear to him. Cit'lal-i growled and crushed the creature's neck with a single flex. His blood went everywhere and Cit'lal-i loved the feel of the warm liquid pouring. He took a step forward and went for more carnage. Blood soaked the grasses and meat, goo, and innards layered and glistened in the sun. The Amini sat among the death and pieces of flesh in blissful happiness. He had moved only after carnivores had moved in for a meal.

After the beautiful killing spree, Cit'lal-i sat underneath a Sakura tree, as his kind called it. His hands and skin on his arms were tinted red from the blood. But no new skulls lay at his feet. Not a single kill had been worthy of a place on his skull wall. The thought of his trophy room lead to the Aztec girl. He wondered what she was doing right now… The Hunter knew she had no idea that this place even existed, nor that there were so many other creatures like her and yet so different. Well, he thought, no one is exactly like her. A small breeze brought him back to a foggy reality. The air on this continent smelt of flowers and greenery. Cit'lal-i looked to his feet and saw a yellow flower waving in the dusk breeze. Gently as to not crush it, he picked the flower and held it to his mask. It had a light scent, but still sweet. Cit'lal-i searched the names of flowers that he knew and guessed this to be a Chrysanthemum. Not one of his favorite flowers, but a gentle one. For a second, the Hunter wondered if she would like to see what was outside of her kingdom. Most of the Aztecs he knew of did not like the thought of the world being so big. But maybe, since she was GLAD to be a slave, maybe he would order her to come with him on a Hunt. And maybe then he would show her the world she lived on. Cit'lal-i thought as the sun lowered itself into the horizon and painted a beautiful array of colors and shadows on the world. When it got dark, he returned to the ship and lay on his bed in the dark. Not bothering to turn the lights on or to take off his armor, the Hunter allowed the small girl, Xochiyotl, to creep into his thoughts once more. And he fell into a light sleep with her face in his mind. 


	7. The Seven Deaths of a God

What kind of time was he on? Xochiyotl was sitting in the chair on the third day of the Amini's absence, watching the sun set. She was annoyed and looking out the large window at the world outside. It had been an entirely uneventful three days, so she had slept most of the sun away and forced down a little food with some belladonna to make her sleep a little more. Now she was pleasantly waiting for the Amini to return (for the love of the Gods) and thinking about how she was going to get back at him for locking her up in this hold. She would get him back…how she did not know, but it WAS coming. She seethed in her anger as she relaxed in the plush of her new life.

_The Seventh Heaven_

It was an amazing thing, heaven. You could not stand from any high point and see the end of it and yet it was not round and concave. It was entirely physical and at the same time and sense, it was not at all. It did not make sense, not even to the Gods and Goddesses.

Metztli, God of the Night, was arguing with Mictecacihuatl, Goddess and Queen of the Underworld. The noise between the two of them had the other five Gods and Goddesses cringing and annoyed. Mixcoatl of the Hunt and Tezcatlipoca of Temptation made up the Gods while Tlazolteotl of Licentiousness, Xochiplli of Erotic Love, and Xochiquetzal of beauty were the Goddesses. All the Gods and Goddesses had been invited to this "meeting", but many had refused to show. It was not uncommon for most of them.

"Can we end this dispute soon?" Tlazolteotl hissed.

Her clothes were extravagant and annoyingly unnecessary. She wore deep colors over bright ones and always, always over-did her hair. She was a walking gem. Literally.

"Maybe if they get over themselves." Mixcoatl smiled a little.

"I agree, Hunter." Tlazolteotl smiled even wider than the God of the Hunt.

There was a pause of uncomfortable silence between the two angry deities that had been fighting. Mictecacihuatl folded her arms and huffed. Then she decided to notice the others sitting in the field. The "field" was the only place in the Seventh Heaven large enough to house all the Gods and Goddesses on the particular plain. They always argued among themselves that the Third Heaven had a bigger area, but never did anything about it. The Egyptian Deities resided on the third level and they were a force to be reckoned with. There had only ever been one War, and that had been at the beginning of the creation. It had split all the levels of heaven into regions. Deities died and been born.

"So what were we talking about anyway?" Mictecacihuatl frowned sweetly.

"We were discussing the Seven Deadly Sins." Xochiquetzal smiled.

"Ooooo" Tlazolteotl made the sound teasingly. "Why were we discussing those? Did our dear Moon piss you off again?"

"Shut up!" Mixcoatl shouted.

There was another pause.

"Not in particular. I just wanted to see how many of you actually remember what they are." The Goddess of Beauty shook her head.

"Well, they're the only thing that can kill us…right?" Mixcoatl frowned lightly.

"Yes, but what are they?"

"Well… let me see here." Tlazolteotl looked to the pearly sky for guidance.

"Vanity, Lust, Envy, Pride, Greed, Fury, and… Sloth?" Mictecacihuatl smiled and looked at the other Deities.

"Yes, very good. I think we are coming close to those, slipping the rules through our fingers so to say. I want to caution you to all be careful." Xochiquetzal frowned beautifully.

"Don't want to fade away do you?" Mixcoatl said more than asked.

"No" most chorused.

"Rhetorical question." Mixcoatl sighed.

"Oh." And that too was heard more than once.

"But Beauty, what of our Moon?" Metztli asked quietly.

"She is just a hair short of Vanity. And Greed and Pride…" The God of temptation hissed between his teeth.

"And her servant, the Star Nelli?" Metztli asked again.

"Lust and Envy. We could accuse her of both I suppose." The Goddess of Beauty had a sad look on her face now.

"Yes but she was mortal at one point." Mixcoatl pointed out with a nod of his head.

"And the Seven Deadly Sins are what separate us from the Mortals are they not?" Tezcatlipoca looked around for an answer.

"True, we do not commit sin." Tlazolteotl answered at last.

"Well, some of us ARE sin." And Mictecacihuatl looked to Metztli.

"And some of us need a lesson in manners" he replied, cracking his knuckles.

"But how did Nelli become a star again?" Metztli asked more shyly.

"She had two of the Seven Heavenly virtues." The Goddess of beauty smiled. "They are what make us Gods."

"And those are…" Mixcoatl trailed off on his question.

"You have to know this Hunter!" the God of Temptation shouted and waved his hands above his head.

"Shut up." The Hunter replied and crossed his own arms.

There was another pause as all stared at Mixcoatl. He didn't look pleased.

"The Seven Heavenly Virtues are…" and Xochiquetzal gestured to Mictecacihuatl for an answer.

"Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance, and Prudence." She replied.

"And you must have all of those qualities to become a God…right?" it was Mitztli again.

"Yes." Xochiquetzal nodded.

"You're an idiot." Mictecacihuatl teased.

"No I am not! You-" Mitztli was cut off by Xochiquetzal.

"Hush, hush. No need for arguments here. I just wanted to caution you all. And I have business to attend to, so I must say farewell for right now." Xochiquetzal nodded and stood.

"Yes, people to create and make pretty. I see." The God of Temptation smiled jokingly.

All of them found themselves standing at that point. And as they said their farewells and returned to their respective temples, the sun on the Blue planet was just going down.

_Inside the Temple of Mixcoatl, in the City of Tenochtitlan, in an Amini's Room_

Xochiyotl crossed and re-crossed her arms. She was getting annoyed. A while back someone had walked right up to the door of her room and then walked away. It had happened a few times now and she was starting to think that the hunter was avoiding her. She could here footsteps now. They were brisk and light, but they were there…and they stopped right in front of the door. In anticipation, Xochiyotl gripped the arms of the chair tighter and sat strait. The door opened.

Cit'lal-i was calm and collected, shaking his head and sighing to himself. She jumped from the chair he had seen her in and flew through the air. And then her scent assaulted his nose. It took him a second to realize she had thrown her arms around his waist and buried her head in his lower chest. Instinctively, Cit'lal-i dropped the pack he carried and wrapped his arms around her in return. They stayed there for what seemed minutes before she seemed to realize what she had done. Xochiyotl dropped to her knees and muttered apologies over and over until Cit'lal-i had heard enough.

"Get up, little one." He ordered in a stern tone.

As Xochiyotl stood to her full height, up to his middle pecks, the Amini grabbed his bag and effortlessly tossed it across the room to land on the bed with a loud 'thunk'. The girl before him stared at him, then the bed, and repeated. Cit'lal-i chuckled a laugh and moved past the girl to the chair she had been sitting in. Everything on him hurt and ached. He wondered…

"Xochiyotl, do you know how to massage?" his voice was soft and yet hard.

"Y-yes my lord. A little bit, I'm no master at it." she stared at the floor and stuttered. She was amazed at his use of her name.

"Then come here and help me." Cit'lal-i stood from his chair and walked to the bed. Pushing the bag off the bed with a bang, he lay out on his stomach and relaxed. "Massage."

"Y-yes my lord." She stuttered again.

At first he didn't feel anything but his dreadlocks move from his back. Then, after a moment, he could tell she was good. Cit'lal-i had to stifle a moan out of relaxation.

Xochiyotl couldn't for the life of her believe she was touching him. She pushed her amazement out of her mind and worked hard. She had to make herself proud The small teen treated each muscle as if it were hard dough, she kneaded it until it was soft and then moved on. Xochiyotl worked her way down his back to right above his butt. Then she stopped and massaged each one of his arms. When she sat back on her legs on the bed, the Amini rolled over and beckoned her to do his front. Gulping, Xochiyotl put her embarrassment out of her mind and went to work.

This time he could not help but moan. Cit'lal-i relaxed under her touch as she twirled her hands on his chest and stomach. Her scent, her touch, the feel of her right next to him did more than relax him. He felt himself begin to pump out musk against his will. When her hands traveled slowly down his chest, Cit'lal-i decided he had enough. The Hunter growled a low note and sat upright, knocking the girl backwards and off of the bed. He hissed and arched his back defensively like an animal.

"Do NOT touch me there!" Cit'lal-i roared through his mask.

In an instant, he was sorry. The human girl backpedaled into the far table and hunched herself into a ball, whimpering. Cit'lal-i stayed for a minute on the bed. He breathed slowly and gazed through his helmet to the small female. She was whimpering, now underneath the table.

She looked too much like himself when he was younger!

The Amini sighed and shook his head in both disgust and sorrow. By the Gods, how was he going to fix this?


	8. The Wake of a Nightmare

Night of the Full Strawberry Moon, Amini's Room inside Temple of Mixcoatl, city of Tenochtitlan

_He could hear the ticking for her death all day long. He knew that when you hear the sound of the Deathwatch beetle, the one you love is doomed to die. And he could do nothing for it. For everyone knew that with the sweet…comes the sour._

Cit'lal-i woke with a start. He was covered in a cold sweat and laying in his bead alone again. For some reason he had expected someone to be curled up against him under the sheets. The Hunter lay back for a moment and sighed, shaking away scattered remnants of a bad dream. He threw the silken sheets from his body, waiting for a moment. Standing and walking to the bathroom, the Hunter washed his face in a basin of water and shook the remaining water from his mandibles. He then stumbled back to the main room and hissed lightly in annoyance. The moon illuminated only the things she wanted to. There was the human girl again, in the chair curled up in a ball and covered only by her clothing. She acted too much like a slave…the hunter stopped at that thought. She wouldn't come close to him since he had growled at her. She would bend to his every whim, not that he had many, and bow and grovel, but she looked so frail and helpless all alone. She hated him now it seemed. He had begun to think more and more about her. During his guard duty he would space out and just picture her flawless face or remember her scent. A few times it had led to him hardening to his embarrassment. But she was too frail to serve him out in the open. Cit'lal-i stood close to the chair his human female sat in. She was making small whimpers in her sleep, some making him cringe. Slowly, as to not wake her, he reached down and ran a hand through her obsidian hair. He loved the feel of it and it stirred her odd scent into the air. He breathed it in deeply; it seemed to calm him when he was angry or upset. He remembered back when her mere presence had calmed his anger. As he thought, she stirred again.

Xochiyotl was dreaming, her vision filled with horrid images of things she could not comprehend fully. She whimpered and closed her eyes tighter to attempt to remove the pictures.

_What was her name again? She seemed to be forgetting that a lot lately. Mayahuel. Yes, Mayahuel was her given name. But what was this other identity she was living? Who was this person with brown hair and golden eyes? She could see from the other girl's eyes and hear from her ears. It was horrible. This girl was a monster! Mayahuel couldn't look away. _

_Something was coming. It was seething and black and it covered the walls in a goo and reddish bloody mess as it traveled. She was disgusted and yet at the same time she loved every one of the serpent creatures. Each one was going to change the world in its own way. Her face smiled. They poured up onto the temple as one seething mass of teeth and hate. As they reached her she screamed. And the vision faded._

She jumped up with a start as Cit'lal-i was about to touch her again. At first she didn't seem to know what she was doing. The small teen launched into his arms and began to cry loudly. Her whole frame shook as he wrapped his large arms around it. It was an instinct to protect and sooth her …sometimes he didn't like it. She was so small compared to his massive bulk. He could have crushed her on accident. Cit'lal-i began to purr; he hated the odd noises she emitted. His kind could do something similar to what she was doing right now, but without the obnoxious noises. The Hunter shook his head and stood awkwardly. Then he heard something that sounded like a word. Cit'lal-i listened intently to what she was muttering. He could almost make out sentences.

"Temamauhti …" More sobbing. "Ni temo noihuan."

He couldn't comprehend what she was saying all together.

"Ni mictia in tiein cocotona ." (I'll kill the one that destroys)

She continued to say 'no' over and over to his chest as she sobbed herself into a stupor. He didn't know how he got her into the bed, or how long it took her to fall asleep once she was in the furry mattress. For the rest of the night, he stayed up and watched her sleep somewhat peacefully in the ruffles of the sheets. Outside, a black vulture circled the lazy moon.

The Next Morning…

Xochiyotl smiled as she stretched her stiff limbs and yawned. Then she froze. Why was she lying down? The small girl didn't make a single noise or move another inch. She hadn't been lying down when she fell asleep! There was an all too familiar sound of breathing in her right ear. But it couldn't be… when Xochiyotl turned her head slowly, she gasped and jumped. The floor was cool and hard as her ass connected with it. She cried out at the sudden movement and hard landing, immediately waking the Hunter. He whirled around and hissed a long note of suprise. When his eyes connected with hers, she could see his surprise mixed with anger plainly. His lower mandibles clicked together while his upper ones parted to reveal his inner mouth and rows of sharp teeth. The girl gasped. Up until now she had never seen his face, always hidden by his metal mask.She didn't think he could look so…different from the other Amini. His eyes were an odd electric blue and one of his lower mandibles had a long, painful-looking, crack in it. Probably from some long ago battle. But it was what his eyes held that made her flinch and feel a pang of remorse shoot down her belly. His blue orbs held a fright and pain in them that made Xochiyotl want to shrivel up in the corner. She was lost though, lost in his eyes and all of the emotion they held. She had thought them mindless killers, hunters, messengers, and most of all creatures. They were not supposed to have feelings! Shaking the pain from her buttocks, the girl stood and brushed her butt off. Xochyotl looked to him as he leaned over the bed and cocked his head. The teen could not help but laugh a little at that motion, it threw his dreadlocks into his mandibles and for a moment he choked and had to brush them away. He "smiled", pulling both his upper and lower mandibles up, and a tingly feeling warmed Xochiyotl's stomach and spine. Odd. The teen remembered herself just as he was about to lean closer to him. She stepped backward and landed in a low bow. He growled from up on the sheets. Xochiyotl frowned at the stone floor and the day began like any other would. They both got up and the little slave girl went about her work in the "small" apartment. The Hunter strode past the bed and deftly stomped in the room Xochiyotl was forbidden to enter, his loincloth flapping at his speed. The teen pretended that she could not see him and continued to scrub on the dinner table, or what they used as one.

After she finished her chores, the small girl watered the flower at the bedside table. She smiled as it drank from her soil. Cit'lal-i had given her the plant as he had apologized for growling at her a few days ago. Wait…had it been a few days or months? She barely even cared about time anymore. In this room everything blended together. She barely remembered what the town square looked like, or the daily sacrifices to the gods. Every day seemed normal and yet at the same time not. Xochiyotl smiled even broader as her "Master" returned from behind the forbidden door. He stopped when he noticed her and the expression on his face made Xochiyotl laugh aloud. He stepped back at her random laughter.

Then he smiled and gave her a wicked look. She hunched her shoulders as he launched for her. The girl launched herself out of the way, surprised at his ferocity and speed despite his massive size. Xochiyotl huffed for breath as she felt his arms wind around her waist. Her eyes widened in anticipation and shock. She let out a small cry as they both fell to the ground in a heap of armor and cloth and flesh. As they both regained their breath, the Hunter did something he had never done, something she wished he had not. He pulled her closer to himself and buried his face in her long, silky, obsidian hair.

Cit'lal-i groaned at the silky feel and smell of her. She was beautiful. He pulled her closer to himself until he could feel her butt against his male-hood. And the simple thought of them touching made him growl. Cit'lal-i's face searched through her silky hair until he found the back of her neck. He heard and felt her gasp as he lightly nipped her with his mandibles. He loved the taste of her skin, the feel of her against him. Then something hit him like a brick. It was sweet, almost to a sickly point, and hot. Was she in heat? Did humans even go through heat? Her scent proved it and it drove him mad. Something about her sweaty and satisfied underneath him made him hard and hot for her in a second. He wanted her. Now. The Hunter groaned and twisted her in his arms. He pulled back enough to see her face. She was hot and yet…what was this stench mixed in with her? It was dark and smelt of…fear? He eyes were huge and her face was stiff. The smell and sight snapped him out of his excited state of mind. He looked into her blue eyes and found fear. She was scared of him? Why? The look on the girl's face made the memories flood him. He had touched her and it had not been pleasant. Long ago he had touched her wrongly. How could he explain that it had been his job to do so? Although un-honorable it had been necessary? Hadn't it? The hurt in the Hunter's heart made him let go of her and get up. He shook his head sadly and sighed. Without another word, the Hunter strode past her and out the door only stopping to grab his spear and helmet.

Xochiyotl stared at the cool floor. She shook her head and took a moment to stand up. Brushing herself off, the Aztec girl brushed off her grungy dress and looked at the closed stone door.

"What was that all about?" She spoke aloud to anything listening.

Sighing to dissipate emotions, the girl began cleaning. Anything to take her mind off the event.


	9. She is Mine

(Chapter 8: Gruthspen's Greed)

Day of the Full Thunder Moon (July), Room of an Amini, Inside Temple of Mixcoatl, City of Tenochtitlan

Xochiyotl didn't seem to know how the days and months had passed so quickly. She dazed out the window from her position in the large over-stuffed chair to the left of the large window. She had only learned two days ago that there was a balcony out there, you had to press a button on the side of the windowsill to open the door to it. Well, actually it removed most of the wall when you pushed it. The Amini had opened it as she was coming out of the bathroom and has shocked her with it. Xochiyotl smiled and settled deeper into the crimson silk. On the table next to the chair were a half-melted candle and a cup of _Atole_. She had only recently made it and so the brew was hot and hard, a deep mixture of corn stalk and Bark of an ancient tree she didn't know the name of. It had not been a popular drink in her former life, but she liked it for its awakening powers. It always seemed to be able to drink her to life in the early morning and warm her cold body after the night. The nights were becoming colder and every night without a blanket was becoming increasingly harder to sleep though. Xochiyotl spaced again and thought back on past events. Her birthday had passed a few days ago, 7th of the Thunder Month to be precise. She had not told her "Master" and therefore had not celebrated it, but she was happy none the less. She was now 16 years old and capable of marrying. Thoughts of the Amini brought back what had happened on the floor just a few weeks ago. The small girl shivered in the chair at the memory of how he had touched her, made her feel, and the spicy scent that had poured from him. For the life of her, the small girl couldn't understand why he had done that. She had pondered every reason and logical fallacy. Even more confusing, she found herself actually liking the way he had touched her, and she had wanted more. But why? Why did she giggle when he cocked his head? What made her move closer to him when he was beside her? Why did she want to be near him so badly?

The door slid open loudly, signifying the return of the Amini from his guard duty. The simple sound made Xochiyotl jump and let out a little scream. The Hunter looked at her for a second before locking his spear in its place at his thigh. Xochiyotl blushed a deep crimson and she stood with her cup in hand. He simply stood at the door silently, staring through his mask. She hated that mask sometimes, she could never tell what he was looking at! Then, a second later, he removed his mask and tossed it on the bed. When he looked back up, there was a glint in his eyes.

"Huica hualquizti." He spoke fluently. (We're going to town) it must have been hard for his mandibles to form.

"Icuac?" She asked innocently, setting her cup on the tray of crumbs. (When?)

"Aocmo huecauh." He replied as he strode to the bathroom and disappeared behind the sheet. (In a moment)

Xochiyotl took the moment to put on some presentable clothes. She had been wearing her "old" cotton dress, mainly used for cleaning because it was white and easy to clean of stains. Now she slipped on her Black jaguar fur skirt and halter top, tying both as tight as she could stand. Then she deftly slipped on her black fur shin coverings, she had no shoes and therefore she had to walk around in her bare feet. Not too unusual for a commoner or slave and it didn't bother her much because she never left the house. Just as Xochiyotl finished tying, Cit'lal-i strode from the bathroom. He was fresh and clean and his armor shone with a slight sheen of blue. Much like his eyes, she thought to herself. The Hunter looked at her and snorted a laugh before looking about the room to double check things. With a final nod, the Hunter strode with her to the door, out it, and down the hallway way she only vaguely remembered.

4,999 steps down the Temple…

Xochiyotl now remembered how the Hunter was so thin and muscular. She tripped on the last of the five thousand steps on the temple's side, skidding on her knees. The Aztec shook herself free of dust and looked up at the Hunter, hating the fact that he had donned his mask again. He nodded sharply, devoid of emotion and turning away, and they both turned to the market of the great city Tenochtitlan. It was bustling with all kinds of people, as it usually was. Dust wafted in thick clouds from their sandaled and booted feet and dispersed into the air. Most were slaves, many were commoners, but some were of the nobility. Xochiyotl was amazed at how even they, the nobility, looked to the Hunter in reverence and awe as he passed by. Secretly, the teen was proud of her "Master" and the status she gained from being his slave. Voices grew louder and louder as they walked down the streets of the market. From her position to the right and slightly behind the Amini, Xochiyotl could tell that he was looking for something in particular. Just as she was about to ask him about it, he stopped. She had to skid to a stop on her bare feet, scraping the skin on the bottom. The Hunter looked down at her naked feet and the shin guards covering her legs. Then he turned to the nearest booth and began to talk to the teller. His Nahuatl (Aztec form of language) was amazingly fluent. Xochiyotl looked to her feet and thought of how she could have done wrong. She had never owned a pair of good shoes, and her sandals had been left in the sacrifice rooms when she had been rescued. She had no need for shoes normally. So why it was a big deal that she was bare footed? Xochiyotl was ripped from her daze by a pair of black boots hanging in front of her face. She looked upward to find that her Amini was holding them.

"Wear these." He simply stated before dropping them in her open hands.

Xochiyotl was about to cry in thanks. She bowed deeply, erecting a growl from him, and slipped them on silently, keeping the tears from falling. The inside was lined with a soft fur to protect her feet and keep them comfortable, she guessed it could have been from a rabbit or fox. The Amini turned and walked a little ways away to another teller, this time looking at some beads and small trinkets. As the small girl was finished tying the straps to the boots, something she had not wanted to hear drifted to her ears. She had dreaded it, knowing he went to the market for corn alcohol nearly every day.

"Mayahuel nemi!" (Mayahuel, you live!)

The voice made her skin crawl and abruptly she was yanked to her feet by a rough hand. Xochiyotl let out an audible gasp. Her step-father. He was fatter and uglier than she remembered him, his belly protruded from his small torn shirt.

"Let...go!" Her hair made a small ripping noise.

"You belong to me wench! Where have you been?" he shouted.

People were watching now, most whispering about the situation to others they may have not known. Where was her Amini? Had he left her all alone? His tight grip got even tighter as the tension escalated.

"What….I'm not yours anymore! I am…" she didn't get to finish. He dropped her to his level and exhaled in her face

"You're what? A whore? A slave? That would fit you well." He grumbled, beginning to drag her away.

"I am 16!" She shouted, hoping her age would compel someone to help her.

"Silence! I own you until you are married!" Whipping his hand across the air, Xochiyotl's step- father was about to hit her face …

Cit'lal-i was furious! How dare this human male come and handle his human this way! He assumed it was her step-father, for the way he had talked to her and her recollection of his behavior. He smelt strongly of alcohol. But that fact did not help the Hunter's anger any more. As the human male was about to hit Xochiyotl, Cit'lal-i had come back from a booth and blocked the male's hand, gripping his wrist tight. Cit'lal-i growled and leveled his masked face with the suddenly pale human's.

"She belongs to me now, human." He snarled in a deep voice.

"She is mine, monster!" the human spat on his mask.

That was all it took to send Cit'lal-i over the edge of anger. With a deafening roar, the Hunter's hand shot out and wrapped around the male's neck. He pulled the body upward and roared again in the male's face. He could hear a thud, glad the human had dropped Xochiyotl. He couldn't hear, he couldn't see anything other than the blood on the male's hand from Xochiyotl and the man's frightened face. Cit'lal-i let him hang for a second before turning to Xochiyotl. She had a horrified visage on her face and her arm bled a little from his dirty fingernails. She had a small chunk of hair missing from her head. He bowed his head and spoke to a woman beside her.

"Do not let that little one see."

_Please do not let her be afraid of me too._

Where had that thought come from?

And as the woman took Xochiyotl in her arms and buried her head in the woman's chest, Cit'lal-i turned back to the male. He dropped him hard on his face and protracted his Ki'cit'pa, wrist blades, with a sharp sound. The male got back up, grabbing a large stick to defend him.

"I own her! I own all those wretches! Good for nothings!" The man shouted.

"She is my slave. Mine alone do to with what I will." He replied, his voice a black hole lacking emotion.

The man launched forward, a fatal attempt at dyeing honorably. The hunter let him fall on his face, pinning his fat little form with a well-placed spear thrust. Men and women alike screamed as the Hunter stabbed the blades, Ki-cit-pa, at the base of the man's lower back. Many bowed in honor. The step-father's scream was gurgled and leaked blood as the Amini worked his way upward slowly cutting and sawing at the man's spine. A fitting form of torture for the unworthy. As he reached the base of the human's neck, the Hunter roared and plunged his hand in the gooey mess, wrapping his fist around the spine. He tore, yanked, and the spine and skull were free of the rest of the body. With a loud angry shout, the Hunter proclaimed his victory. Never again would this man hurt his little female. Never again would he torment her. And as his roared died, the Amini on the other Temple tops roared together to echo his fury and happiness. They all knew the joy of the kill and it revealed itself in their bellows. A few moments passed and his fury subsided as he recognized what he had done. More importantly, what he had done to Xochiyotl. The Hunter turned and frowned at the trembling form of Xochiyotl met his eyes. The poor girl was staring at him, tears running down her face and her upper lip trembling. Cit'lal-i looked from the mangled corpse, to the trophy in his hand, to her and back.

_No, Gods, please don't let her hate me. Please don't let her be afraid of me too._

He had shown his Hunter nature in front of her. Underneath his civilized exterior he had shown his nature. He had ruined his chance of ever becoming her mate! That thought stopped him. When had he thought about becoming her mate? When had he decided he loved her? A whimper brought him back to reality and his eyes focused on her again. The Hunter hooked the skull and spine, still bloody and gory with flecks of brain and an eyeball to testify for its freshness, to the net at his right hip. He shook his head and growled to the female who had her arms wrapped around Xochiyotl. The female let go and stepped back as if she had been hurt and just as soon as she did, Xochiyotl's knees collapsed and she hit the ground with a dull thud. Her violent green eyes still held his.

All she could hear were the gurgled screams of her former foster-father. Xochiyotl focused on the scents of dust and warm honey from in her snuggly place at the woman's breast. This woman smelled good. As the screams subsided she had to look. Whatever greeted her was fate and she knew she would have to deal with something like it in the future, seeing as she was the servant girl of a Hunter. What met her eyes was horrid and beyond comparison. Blood pooled around the mangled flesh that had been a human and she watched as her "Master" ripped the bones from the body. He was a Hunter, she knew it in her heart, and whatever gentleness he showed her was a game to hide his true nature. This proved it. He was gutting the human like a fish! The sound itself was disgusting and when he turned to her… Xochiytol didn't know what was happening anymore. She was numb. Nothing was there but herself and Cit'lal-i. And all she could focus on was the eyes lenses of his mask. They were a deep orange tint and yet, though the color was so warm, they were cold. He growled, but she didn't notice it, she didn't notice her knees slamming the dirt, nor the scent of gore. When he growled again, she couldn't take it anymore, and as she lost consciousness, she watched him dart for her.

Cit'lal-i frowned and reached her just as she passed out and her head hit the ground. Frowning deeper, he stooped to lift her into his arms gently and he set forward back to the temple, leaving the body for the servants and slaves to clean up. Blood on his hands smeared her clothing in sticky smudgy glops. People parted, giving the Amini more than enough room to walk.

The Seventh Heaven

Coyolxauhqui hissed through her teeth. She stomped up the steps to her temple and slammed the door shut as she walked to her silken throne. She had just gotten from the Mirror Temple and the Seeing Stone within. It had showed the Hunter killing a human _in front of the girl!_ And the Goddess had been attempting to get the girl to love him and vice versa. What was wrong with mortals? She must have been the only good one of the generation.

"Nelli!" she shouted as she flopped into the cushions.

"Nelli!" she really needed that useless star right now.

"Nelli is not here. In fact none of your stars are, Moon." A far familiar voice whispered in her ear. "And what is the Moon with no Stars?"

"How dare you!" the Moon twirled around and met nothing.

"I dare? Do what?"

"How dare you meddle in my affairs!" she was reaching a screech now.

"Have you ever noticed that none of us but you has slaves?"

As the Moon whirled back to her sitting position, she came face to face with Beauty herself. The woman smiled flawlessly and rested a hand on her hip. Her red silken dress hung from her shoulders and flowed much like water around her. The Moon was an amusing creature, she was. Coyolxauhqui hissed again as she calmed herself down. It was no used being angry with a little kid after all. She straitened her back and brushed some of her honey hair from her blue eyes. The seat under her holy buttocks seemed to grow to stone and as it become more and more uncomfortable, she stood with a huff. Suddenly, she broke the echoic silence.

"What do you want, old hag?"

"Ooooo." Beauty made the noise with an 'O' mouth. "You'd better calm yourself down little Moon."

"What the hell do you mean?" now she was pissed.

"Anger. Sloth. Vanity. You are becoming Sin itself aren't you? Not to mention the mouth you have on you."

Every God and Goddess that existed knew that when you call out a sin in a Deity, they become weaker and weaker, but only if the called sin was true. Xochiquetzal was counting on the Moon becoming weaker. She had been in office far too long.

"No!" Coyolxauhqui covered her ears with her silky white hands, nails tinted purple.

"Did Mother make a mistake birthing you into a Goddess?" the sound was barely a whisper now.

"No! Stoppit!" she combined words again.

The only sounds then, in the temple, were the Moon's screams as her skin grew tanner and the quiet laugh of amusement coming from Xochiquetzal.

Mixcoatl smiled to Ixlilton as he sat on his own throne. At his feet, the soul of a farmer lay begging and snuffling. Mixcoatl nodded to Mictlantecuhtle, the God of the Dead and spirit Guide. The poor God had thought that it was proper that Mixcoatl deal with the idiot on the floor. The Hunter God shook his head and reached for his double-bladed spear resting at his side. As his hand wrapped around it, he stood and his voice boomed around the stone walls.

"Why are you here human?"

"I w-was wronged!" the human male stuttered and raised his head.

"You are the foster parent of little Mayahuel aren't you?" Mixcoatl already knew that answer to the question; he just wanted to hear it from the human.

"Y-yes, Lord! She betrayed me! She…" he was cut off by the God of Death.

"I will hear no more of this nonsense. What is your decision, Mixcoatl?" Death's voice boomed.

Mixcoatl frowned at Mictlantecuhtle and his apparent lack of patients. The Hunter God shook his head and sighed as he decided. This human was unworthy of the delights of the Second Heaven.

"To the Underworld with him." Mixcoatl smiled as the human went pale.

And the God raised his spear and thrust downward.

"Why was it my decision what to do with him?" Mixcoatl asked Mictlantecuhtle after the human was gone.

"You made the Hunter that killed him." And with that Death strode a little ways off and waved goodbye.

Mixcoatl watched as the black cloaked figure looked to the ground and his wings covered him. In a wave of feathers and fire, he was gone from the temple. What a strange solemn person Mictlantecuhtle was. And yet he could have been called the most powerful of the Gods. The Hunter God sighed a little heavier and wondered about what Death had said. He had made the Hunter? Then he remembered. Cit'lal-i was the Hunter that killed the Human male in an attempt to protect Mayahuel. Good, most everything was going according to plan. Or at least to _his _plans.

"I want a meeting called in the Mirror Temple." He looked to Ixlilton and the God smiled.

Night of the Full Thunder Moon (July), Room of an Amini, Inside Temple of Mixcoatl, City of Tenochtitlan

Outside the clean and vicious temple of Hunters, a storm raged as it did many times during the month. Lightening danced and the mottled black clouds roared. And among the storms a beast slithered. A seething hate under his glistening scales. His teeth shone for moments as he rose above the storm and hissed to the full moon's light and the stars on the black of the sky. And then as quickly as he had come, he was gone and back underneath the veil of the clouds. Yes, this was their place. He would show them what they had done to him. For he was the closest thing to a God his island had. Four claws contracted and retracted, pushing the creature through the sky. He roared, but it was lost in a burst of thunder as the storm whistled on.

Cit'lal-i sat on the edge of his bed, right next to Xochiyotl. She lay sleeping, her bled arm wrapped and her dusty clothes removed. It had been hours since she had passed out and only once had she woken up and even then it had only been for a second. She had screamed, fallen off the bed, and passed out again. The Hunter sighed to himself and lifted a hand to brush away a dusty lock of black hair. Cit'lal-i didn't know how to fix this situation.

After some time alone next to her, Cit'lal-i decided he needed to visit the statue of the Hunter God, Mixcoatl. He had never been particularly religious, but in the end he had decided it would at least get him some fresh air. Something about today had boggled him to no end. And so, the Hunter stood from the bed and strode silently out the door, only pausing for a second to lock it from the outside. He nodded and stepped down the hallways and tunnels to the large main temple room. Inside it was lined with marble of all colors and skull after skull hung from the ceiling, some full bodied skeletons decorating the walls. The statue of the Hunter God himself was littered with skulls from Hunters and humans alike. There was something in that Golden statue that made Cit'lal-i stare in awe up at it. Something was so serene in that silenced room. No humans were there and only one other Hunter. It took a moment for Cit'lal-i to recognize him but when he did it took most of his strength to keep from cutting him down.

"Qua'uht'li!" he shouted to get the others attention.

The other hunter, the one who had attempted to rape Xochiyotl, whipped his head around and stepped back at the sight of Cit'lal-i. Cit'lal-i noticed his demeanor shrivel when he stepped near.

"I saw you kill the human today, nice and clean." Qua'uht'li was kissing Cit'lal-i's ass.

"Not very clean, actually." He thought, and then turned his head from the statue and to the Hunter. "I am just here to look at the statue. Leave me be."

"Y-yes sir."

The other Hunter decided that after that comment it would be best to simply disappear altogether. He shot out of the large room quietly and when the door behind him closed, Cit'lal-i let out a long sigh. Now that he was alone, the Hunter walked to the foot of the large monument and smiled. In scripted in the base was an interesting wave of language that the Messengers themselves had written and carved. It was a form of language known as _Lat-in_ and only known in another part of the planet. Cit'lal-i found it funny how the humans could never decide on one language; each culture always had to have their own. He smiled and read it aloud.

"We would gladly feast on those who would subdue us." He laughed a little.

Those words made his spine shiver and his mandibles bristle in excitement. Yes, now his head was clear. Now he knew what he was going to say to Xochiyotl when she woke up. All he had to do was tell her the truth. And Cit'lal-i didn't quite get how he had come to that conclusion, he simply knew he had. As he turned away and back to his room, the Hunters heart was light and there was a skip to his step.


	10. Clemency

(Chapter 9: Clemency)

_Three Days after the Full Thunder Moon (July), Room of an Amini, Inside Temple of Mixcoatl, City of Tenochtitlan_

**The serpent, the great beast of the sky, was watching the worthless world beneath him. Dirty Two-ears-Two-Legs-Land-Creatures withered before his glistening eyes and slithering scales. The monster landed alone on an outcropping of rock. He had always been alone. This place still smelt of a Land-Creature-Child-Bearer-female, and it incited him as his nostrils flared. The same scent had been on the female with his prey. The serpent smiled and shifted on his weak feet. He hated the feel of the Break-Bone-Ground beneath him. His maw opened and blew a thick stream of smoke. Oh how this place was so much dryer and uglier than his island homeland and his sea waters. Scales bristled, yes the moon would fade soon and with it so would he. **

How long was she going to continue like this? Citlali watched over her once more as she lay unconscious in his arms. Before his bed, the lazy sun drifted slowly mid-sky. They both had slept in the bed; he wanted to keep her near for more reasons than he would admit. Well, that and he wasn't going to give up his nice comfy bed. Citlali sighed and hissed through his teeth in frustration as he tightened his hold on the small Xochiyotl. She was huffing lightly as she slept and moved a little more than usual. It had been an interesting three days. Xochiyotl had lost weight, you could tell by her layer of muscle and fat, and she had simply not talked. Everything else had been almost normal besides the unusual silence and coldness of the air around her. The fire in her eyes had died out and her movements didn't seem to have the life they used to. Seeing her like this, withering away, made Citlali's heart hurt. It would have hurt him less to see a Hunter's interest in Hunting die. Something stirred the wind into his room and he noticed that clouds had begun to gather in the sky. It would storm soon. Finally deciding to get out of bed, the Hunter threw his sandals and leg guards on and lumbered out into the hallway. He barely remembered to lock the door behind him in an attempt to keep her in the room. A small laugh escaped his lipless mouth when he remembered her first attempt to escape the room.

She had decided to climb out of the window after learning that the door was locked from the outside. The small teen had almost slipped off the side of the temple to the skull wall and path below. It would not have been pretty to clean up and it would have bothered him to an extraneous extent to see her splattered corpse. So he had shouted and growled and hissed at her to never to such a thing again.

The Hunter stopped walking abruptly and hissed to himself. Those had been happy days for him. Nothing had been stressful, nothing abnormal, every day had been the same and yet something entirely different. Citlali looked up and saw several priests staring at him. He growled and threw his right fist into the wall next to him, breaking off a chunk of stone in his apparent frustration. The human men jumped in horror and fell to the ground in bows and prayers, groveling to please the Hunter. Then something popped into the Hunters head. Perhaps a gift would help her in some way? It would take a few days to clean, what with his hunting gear on the ship and all, but maybe he could manage it. After all, she had hated her step-father. Without another thought for the humans on the floor at his feet, Citlali strode toward the Death Chambers. (Place where they keep all of the dead bodies at the bottom of the temple. Usually underground)

Xochiyotl could barely breathe. She didn't have the courage or will to do it anymore. She was death, and illness, and all things lithesome and unclean. She couldn't look at herself in the mirror anymore. As the small broken girl lay in the bed, she willed herself to fade away. She had caused the death of another. He had not been a sacrifice to the Sun! She should be the dead one. A tear withered down Xochiyotl's cheek as she huddled closer to herself. It was all her fault. Though her body was fevered, the teen felt cold and lifeless in the silken sheets of luxury. Shaking her head, Xochiyotl shifted and rolled to her other side. She was stiff and hoped she could move after three days in bed with no food or water. She almost laughed as her stomach grumbled and her throat croaked of its own accord. As Xochiyotl's heels touched the floor, the temperature in the room plummeted. Before her, in a veil of red and white ribbons, stood the single most beautiful female on the planet. She was not smiling, in fact she looked dazed and slightly confused, but she was beautiful all the more for her blazing eyes. Xochiyotl took only a second to register her appearance. Black hair, teal colored eyes with a red eye shadow, and a voluptuous body covered in only a silken red dress that flowed around her though there was a lack of wind. Then the questions came. But Xochiyotl found herself speechless, more from lack of nutrition than of shock.

For mere moments they simply stared at each other, as if sizing each other up. Then, the bright crimson lips of the beauty opened and what sounded like music flowed.

"You don't pray anymore. You say it hurts too much. Your heart like one of those fragile cactus flowers cast amongst thorny ribs. So be ready to hurt."

A whisper and yet it was clear and loud as Xochiyotl's own heartbeat.

"What? I have no heart anymore. I cannot pray. I am not worthy of such things." She looked downward. "How could I apologize to him after so long?" she added as an afterthought.

There was silence, only the soft breaths of the beauty, who seemed to glow, and Xochiyotl.

"Steady yourself, love, steady yourself for victory is near. Shut the world out with its tyranny and noise."

And with a single blink and a return of heat into the room, the beauty was gone. There had been no flash of light, no boom of noise and echo of a laugh. Silence and a blink and she was alone in the room. Alone again.

The hairs on Xochiyotl's arms erected and bumps formed on her skin. She stared to where the girl had been only moments before and simply sat. With hollowed footsteps in the hallway, Xochiyotl stood and stumbled to the bathroom. She had made up her mind. It was time to change. She would no longer be the damsel in distress, she would learn to fight and wear armor on her soul. _Steady yourself, love, steady yourself for victory is near._ Words rang in her mind as if bouncing off the walls, an echoic noise.

The water was hot and yet soothing as she relaxed into it. Steam filled the mirrors along the wall and collected at the ceiling. A single sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and felt her muscles ease. An hour passed before she stood weakly and brushed her silky hair strait, draining the water from the tub with a slosh. Xochiyotl decided to braid her locks and curl it into a bun at the nape of her neck as to keep it out of the way. She smiled for the first time in days, her white teeth yellowed a little. Almost shrieking at her fangs, the girl quickly brushed them thoroughly and smiled again. White, Good. She strode from the bathroom in her usual rags and found the usual tray of food on the table by the window. The only table in the room. Gently and selfishly, she strode toward the tray and lifted some fruit to her lips.

_The Seventh Heaven_

"I HATE talking in riddles!" Xochiquetzal huffed.

Quetzalcoatl merely smiled from his current seat at the head of the stone mirror. The God of Civilization and Learning was in a playful mood. According to many of the Gods and Goddesses, this little human "Mayahuel" was starting to be an interesting subject. He leaned over the table, resting his tan elbows on it and propping his head on his palms.

"Why would you hate riddles?" he smiled wryly.

"She didn't even get what I was saying! And it was frickin' hard to come up with them in the first place!" she threw he hands into the air out of frustration.

"Maybe you didn't say it right? Or maybe you did not say a riddle at all?" Quetzalcoatl asked, still smile plastered.

"I did too say a riddle!"

"Then how do you know she did not 'get it'?"

"The blank look in her eyes!"

Xochiquetzal stared at him with flames in her teal eyes. Her hands were in fists by her sides and her arms shook slightly.

"Calm down, Beauty." Mixcoatl shook his head as he walked the rest of the way into the room. He had only just arrived and sighed at the scene before him. Everyone on every level of Heaven knew that Quetzalcoatl made it as hard as possible to learn something. He never gave you a straight answer. Usually he answered a question with a question. For that, many Gods and Goddesses refused to work with him after the first time. Lesson learned, they always said.

"Why should i? I should have told her right out. Ugh"

"Told who, what?" Mixcoatl frowned.

"Who are you studying…not helping?" Quetzalcoatl was still smiling.

"Shut up Quetzalcoatl." Both other deities echoed.

There was nothing for a moment, silence boomed around the dimly lit chambers of the Mirror Room. Odd that there was no noise other than the rapid breathing of someone outside the door. The breaths got louder and louder as that someone neared the room with light footsteps and a clicking of heels. The door clanged open in a rush of air, crack of wood, and whine of metal hinges.

"They're interfering!"

The Holy personages were stunned. This particular person had not made herself known for some time in the realm of the Gods and Goddesses. Her sudden appearance stirred up some unwanted feelings. Behind her, the God of the Wind rushed up, his face red and puffed with anger.

"Mayahuel! Why are you running? What is WRONG with you?" Ehecatl roared from behind her.

"They're doing it! They're meddling!" the Demigod Mayahuel threw her hands and brought them down hard on the Mirror slab.

"Hey hey, little Demigod, don't break the mirror." Mixcoatl was one of the only Gods that Ehecatl allowed to talk to her that way.

"Stop them!"

"Stop who?" Xochiquetzal frowned.

"The Japanese Goddesses!"

"Why?" Xochiquetzal asked in a whisper.

"They sent him! They're meddling!"

"Why? Who did they send?" this time Mixcoatl spoke up.

"Does it matter?" Quetzalcoatl whispered to himself. No one paid him any heed.

"Mashii Hoshi!" Mayahuel hissed and paced.

Behind her, the God of the Hunt and God of Wind sighed and frowned, crossing their arms and then re-crossing them.

"Brave Star? I'm assuming he's a Dragon then?" Mixcoatl smiled kindly to attempt to calm Mayahuel down.

"Why would you assume such?" Ehecatl switched his gaze to the God.

"Those Goddesses only ever give names associated with the sky to Dragons."

"Oh, well then yes, I agree."

"Will you listen to her so she'll shut up!" Xochiquetzal was screaming now too.

"Do not talk to her that way!" Ehecatl roared.

"Yeah!" Quetzalcoatl backed, though his heart was not in it.

"I wasn't talking to her, I was talking about her!" Xochiquetzal hissed between her teeth.

"There is no difference." Mixcoatl slumped forward a little in anger. He was only half-human after all.

"Like you're one to talk Mixcoatl!" Xochiquetzal growled at the God.

"Why are we fighting?" Quetzalcoatl asked to no one in particular.

In the amiss of the fray of anger, the God of learning sat and smiled a little. It was entertaining to watch them all fight. Until a war broke out that is. He sighed and slumped a little further in his seat, relaxing and worrying at the same time. A sky Dragon had been sent from the Japanese Goddesses of the fifth level of Heaven. Silently he wondered what the Dragon looked like and what he had to do with the human girl and the Hunter. By the time he had figured out the relationship, he was out of the temple and down the steps.

The Dragon was going to attack, probably on the new moon, for most of them loved the dark of night and clouds for a fight. After all, they could see in the dark. Quetzalcoatl sighed and picked up his pace as his thoughts ran back to his study of Dragons and the Japanese Gods and Goddesses.

The road to the Temple of Knowledge was lined with statues, each one of a different animal, one of the several he had appeared on earth in. Heels clacked on rune stone cobbles of the pathway between the large crystal statues and the sound echoed in the space that was the haven of his temple. As the God stepped up to the large mahogany doors of his home, he smiled. Turning back to the gardens and statues, his smile grew. Unlike the other Gods and Goddesses of the Seventh Heaven, Quetzalcoatl had actually cultivated his temple and gardens from the "soil" of the heavens with his own two hands. He had not simply wished them into being. The God smiled wider with pride and turned back abruptly, walking into the temple with a simple wave of his hand on the knob of the door. The inside resembled a library greatly. Bookshelves upon bookshelves lined the main hall, each one blending with the other flawlessly and carved to resemble instances in history. Quetzalcoatl's smile faded when the stench of flowers and moondew hit him hard. As he rounded the L shaped curve of the hall, the God of Learning hissed through his teeth and shook his head. She was one of the only Goddesses that could actually get to him. Quetzalcoatl sighed a little louder as he stepped down into the little stop-sign shape that was his throne. In all actuality, it resembled a couch more than a throne, with cushions and a footrest with a throw blanket over it. And the Goddess was lying on the couch, her feet propped up, shoes still on. Now, Quetzalcoatl was annoyed. She was going to stink up his temple!

"Are you lost, Moon?" he sighed.

A first she did not answer. Quetzalcoatl took her silence to notice that her skin was in fact tanner and glowed less than the last time she had made herself known. Her eyes were a bluer color, still mostly purple, and she shook slightly as if from cold.

"I want to stop them…"


	11. Dragon Theif

_Somewhere among the Clouds, Heading Towards Jaguar Cave: Outside the City of Tenochtitlan_

**The city of Tenochtitlan was not barren at all. Surrounded by large hills and gracious farmlands, it was well protected from outsiders. It was sometimes a disadvantage for trade. And yet, the paradise was surrounded by stinking marshlands, dirty forests, and moldy vegetation. This did nothing to the Dragon though, he was high above the land twisting and turning to keep his serpentine body in the air. With the female firmly clutched in his paw, Brave Star continued onward to the cave he had first smelt her in when he tracked the hunter. The wind ruffled his mane and stirred up the memories he had long locked away.**

**_It was the third-hundredth year of his life. Barely anything compared to his father's nine-thousand years. But he was vigilant. And because of such, became know as the Brave Star; his name given to him by the Controller, the Beautiful Goddess of the sky. It was the three-millionth year of the planet and the air was fresh as the water was salty. Oh how he loved bathing in the sea, his home, and swimming to the deepest depths of the oceans. The water down there was icy cold and it refreshed his scales. But he had to come up for air some time and then took to the sky, scales brilliant with water cutting the color of his body. Then it all went wrong. On the three-thousandth-nine-hundredth birth year of the mother planet, the aliens had come with their killing and slaughtering ways. His father had been slain by one and his mother soon after. They had left after a bloody _Setsu_, kill, and only returned with every one-hundredth cycle of the sun. Then, eight-hundred years ago, the _Tatsuoki Satsujin_ happened. The Great Dragon Murder. How he had survived? He did not know. He had saved many a young-soft hatchling and killed many of the two legged weapon carrying aliens. After seven years they had driven them from the lands, but then _it_ had happened. And for that, he would never forgive!_**

**Brave Star landed on the top of the cave, not showing any signs of exhaustion save for the dryness of his scales. The wind was wet. Some storm was likely brewing close to them. With his paws resting on the rocks, the Dragon observed the surroundings. The trees and plants and even the rocks held some memories of the female human. Both seemed good and bad, memories of someone sweet and kind as well as memories of pain and loneliness. How could so many memories be locked up in such a small place?**

**He looked about more deeply. Why was there such a lack of water in this place? It reminded him of a large expanse of water. He needed to bathe, and he needed to do so _now_. Forgetting his original abhorrence, the Dragon again lifted off with ease into the sky. Brave Star's new destination was the ocean. Which was not too far from here and he would carry out better near the sea anyway. With the little female still firmly clutched in his grasp, he interweaved his body through the clouds; like a beautiful silken ribbon dancing in the sky. **

**Brave Star couldn't wait to taste that salty atmosphere again. He'd been away too long and that thought drove him faster.**

**The sun was rising again by the time he could smell the life-giving sea. He bent his body forward and through the clouds in anticipation. The human was still in his paw and still asleep. In the back of his mind, he wondered how long she could go without food. **

**The wondrous blue was spread before him like a blanket of life. He could taste the salt in the air and it stuck to his tongue as he salivated profusely. Forgetting the small female in his hands, Brave Star dove into the sea with great mirth. He swam and came up again, diving and swimming and coming up for air again. For what seemed only minutes to him, Brave Star continued his slithering dance of life. Only when his energy had been filled did his mind stray back to his current situation. The Dragon bolted upward into the sky and landed on a beach of grainy red, black, and cream colored sands. He laid the human on the sand and looked at her for moments. She was cold to the touch, not breathing, and her mouth was full of ocean water. The Dragon bashed on himself for acting so selfishly and carelessly. What had come over him to act this way? With a very heavy heart, the Dragon bumped the human's stomach area with the tip of his nose.**

**Coughing and spurting water from her mouth and nose, Xochiyotl made a mess of herself as she choked and rolled to her side to avoid swallowing the disgusting water again. She hacked and coughed for some minutes, holding her wrenching stomach as she did so. When the sand next to her, as well as her clothes, was soaked the frightened teen looked up into the eyes of the Dragon. He looked slightly amused and was settled on the sand, his body curled and twisted to fit on the shore. After some minutes of staring at him in horror and selfishly wishing that Cit'lal-i would come to save her, the great beast spoke.**

"**What are you looking at, two-legs?" he seemed to spit to her in disgust.**

"**Who… wh-what?" Xochiyotl tried to inquire but stuttered. **

**For some strange reason, there was something she felt about this creature. Some sort of connection with him that was neither tangible nor perceivable, but she knew it was there. The air around him seemed to tingle and spark with magic and he lifted his head high, and then lowered it to look at her squarely in the eyes. His moist warm breath made her shudder in fear and anticipation. Her nerve began to return with her anger as she looked into his liquid golden eyes. It seemed like he knew her well, like he knew how she had been born and about her past.**

"**I'm looking at _you_." She stressed the last word. **

**For moments the dragon did nothing. He simply stared at her. She took this as a sign of his surprise and decided to go on. Her braveness had returned with her spirit.**

"**Never talk like you know me buddy, you don't even know my name!"**

"**You're an orphan. Your original parents named you Tonalnan (Mother of Light). And you currently serve the Hunter yautja called Cit'lal-I, who renamed you Xochiyotl (heart of a gentle flower). Anything else?" a liquid-like voice called out from between some of the Dragon's curled flesh.**

**With a sudden jolt, the Dragon moved like he had been electrocuted. Now on Xochiyotl's side, he too gazed at the newcomer. She was lucid and moving, her garments flowing with the slightest breeze. She wore twenty long sleeved robes. Each was a different color of the rainbow. When her arms moved, it looked as if a rainbow was following behind them. Her hair was black and strait. It was braided and bunched to form what looked to be some sort of flower. With her brilliant eyes glowing, she smiled a flashing white smile. Her feet never touched the colorful sands. **

"**Who are…you?" Xochiyotl's fear returned in an instant.**

_Running through the forests of Tenochtitlan, heading towards Jaguar Cave_

Cit'lal-i was still running, still searching for her. He had lost and picked up her scent more than once today. Nine other Hunter's had joined him simply for the chance to kill a Dragon. He had ravaged the city for any crazed Hunter willing and ready to go on a moment's notice. They now ran with him, moving their legs 15 miles an hour to get to their destination. Despite his injuries still plaguing him, Cit'lal-i was not slower than the rest of his brethren. He smiled simply because he was keeping up. The gashes had long ago stopped bleeding, though every muscle still begged for rest. His mouth was dry and his spit was thick in his throat. Sticky sweat covered almost every inch of his body is a film of musk and determination. And yet he pressed on. In his mind pressed the questions, doubts, and fears. They raced as fast as they could. Was she alright? Was she even alive? What would he do if she were dead? At that thought his mind stopped. He couldn't fathom the thought of her being dead, of her gone forever.

The jungles and marshlands made navigating hard for anyone without the right equipment. Thankfully, each and every Hunter had his or her personal helmet and wire mesh suit of armor. They had digital maps and weapons to counter whatever seemed to be out there. The Hunters hissed and clicked in their language to each other. They couldn't wait to slay.

"So what are we out here for anyway?" One large black colored Hunter inquired.

"We're gonna kill a Dragon!" A short green skinned fellow smiled.

"That's not the only reason. He wants something else too," added the biggest of the males. He had a reddish colored skin.

"It's his mate. She's missing," The only female chimed in. She was gray colored and at least two feet taller than the males.

At mention of him, Cit'lal-i turned his head and hissed. A female's intuition was a high myth. For some reason females always seemed to know things that were not obvious. This situation was littered with intuition and questions.

"His female?" the green hunter inquired, "Cit'lal-i had a female? I thought she was just a slave girl."

The tall female yautja spoke up, "Yes, he rescued her from one of the others in the slave chambers."

"Cit'lal-i…is the slave your mate?" the female asked him in a whisper, striding up to the front with him.

For moments Cit'lal-i said nothing. How could he say that he wanted her? He didn't even know if she cherished him the way he prized her. For a moment, his mind flashed to what he wanted. He could almost picture their pups playing at the base of the temple and her shouting at them to behave. He unconsciously gurgled a laugh at his own thoughts.

"So she would have been." The female again guessed right.

She was good at this game.

"Yes. She might have been…" Cit'lal-i trailed off in thought.

"If the High Elder would have agreed to let you mate her."

Cit'lal-i looked over to her for a moment. He longed to know if she was angry with him or not. Most females hated the human women, especially the ones that interacted with the Hunter males. He smiled; many females had beaten fellow males for talking to human girls.

"Are you not angry? She _is _a human female."

"Angry?" She looked at him, cocking her head to the side. "No, I don't think I am. You want her, it is your choice."

"You must be the first female to say that in the history of our kind." Cit'lal-i shook his head solemnly

"Probably." She smiled.

They continued to trudge onward through the jungle paths. When Cit'lal-i finally recognized the area, he broke into a quicker run. The foggy scent of the Dragon was everywhere, mixed with Xochiyotl's, and only got stronger as he neared the cave. When he smashed into the glade surrounding the cavern, his memories boiled over.

_He was hunting. The jungle was alive and thick, the air was moist and hot as usual. Blood drenched his arms and legs from his most recent kill. There was a moaning noise followed by an animal's yowl. Following the paths of blood and smell of hate, Cit'lal-i found her. And from that day onward, he couldn't get her out of his mind. And so he named her Xochiyotl, heart of a gentle flower, after the way she had looked at him when he had killed the large cat. She looked at him with hope, bliss, and adoration in her forsaken eyes._

The glade seemed empty now, as if when she had left she had taken what mattered in this place. He looked to the plants that held the same memories that he did, perhaps from different perspectives. Everything was important here, simply because she had touched it. With a heavy sigh, he noticed that nothing was there, no Dragon, no Xochiyotl, and no evidence that they had even ever landed. He shook his head faster, sinking to his knees in desperation. Where would the creature go besides here? Falling to his back, Cit'lal-i was aware of the others coming into the glade and sitting or lying on the grasses. He fought back tears and sorrow at his lost love. Closing his eyes and ignoring the tears that flowed from them, Cit'lal-i prayed for the first time in his life. For once, he hoped that there was a God up there that would answer his call.

_Seventh Heaven_

Ixtlilton leaned over the edge of the mirror. Being one of the shorted Gods of the Aztec, he had a hard time seeing when there were several people crowding the stone. He huffed a little and turned instead to the God of Gods. It was seemingly asleep, but everyone knew that it never slept. Being both male and female, Ometechulti/Omecihuatl didn't need anything in the order of sustenance. It simply was there. Still he gazed at it in wonder, knowing that it knew the outcome of this charade of Mayahuel's. He still wondered why the Demi-God wanted the human alive so badly. Or why she wanted to bring the human and yautja together so badly. He clicked his nails together in thought.

"That Dragon is pissing me off!" Mictlan, God of the ninth level of the Underworld shouted.

"You have to admit it was a well played maneuver by the Japanese goddesses." Xochiquetzal smiled beautifully.

"As well played as putting your knight right in front of the King." Quetzalcoatl frowned.

"In a time like this, you speak of chess?!" Mixcoatl shouted at the top of his lungs.

The four Deities began to fight, their anger boiling over into the mirror and probably showering a place in the world with war. Ixtlilton sighed and finally got a chance to peek into the mirror. He noticed something that the others did not seem to see. The Hunter was praying, calling for help.

"Umm…guys…" he started and looked to the others, they were still fighting.

Ixtlilton jumped when Ometechulti/Omecihuatl popped up beside him. It looked slightly angry.

"He prays not for himself, but for her." It smiled. "Mixcoatl!"

The God of the Hunt swished around and hissed. He looked at his parent and then to the mirror littered with his Hunters. Walking slowly, he stood before Ometechulti/Omecihuatl.

"Yes, My God?"

"Do not shower me with compliments. I have a task for you. I am certain that you will be able to accomplish it, but you may not come back to the Heavens until you do." Ometechulti/Omecihuatl smiled broadly.

"Do I have a choice?" Mixcoatl looked much like a small child would, reluctant volunteer for anything without knowing what it was first.

"No."

"Well, then of course I would love to have your task!" he stood up straighter.

"You must go to Earth and help the Hunter called Cit'lal-i in any way he needs. You will have most of your powers and may bring your Choca with you.

With an angry grunt, the God of the Hunt nodded once and turned. As he walked toward the doors, the scene faded from the Mirror Temple, to the inside of the small cave.

The first thing he noticed was the comforting weight of his Choca double-bladed spear (The weeping spear). He loved the feel of it on his back. Smiling, he stepped out into the fading light of the camp the Hunters had made. Silently, he stepped closer. All of them were asleep but Cit'lal-i and the Female, who sat beside him.

He slumped and looked like he had been torn from something. Mixcoatl sighed quietly and realized for once just how much the human meant to the Hunter. How had he come to love her so much? The Gods had not interfered that much had they? Silently, he recited one of the more famous sayings his predecessor had scribed into the throne in his temple.

_Don't fall down._

_Don't look into the eyes of the world beneath you._

_Don't look down, _

_You can't hold onto the fear that's lost without you._

_If you're not here, we're not fine, we're not real…_

After some minutes, he decided it was time to show himself to the Hunters. After all, they would need him to fight off the Dragon and to keep the Japanese Goddesses at bay. And he knew he would need the help of those lucky enough to stay in the Seventh Heaven.

With a loud crunch of dead grass beneath his black and crimson boot, the God of the Hunt stepped forward into the light.


	12. Heaven on Earth

Chapter 12: Flesh and Blood

_Night of the Full Beaver Moon in Jaguar Cave, in the forests of Tenochtitlan_

Cit'lal-i frowned and looked up to the creature blocking his light. The mortal Hunter didn't seem to recognize him. Then something hit Cit'lal-i. This creature was around twelve feet tall, and was adorned with black and crimson armor. His skin was an oddly candy cane striped variation. He carried a…

Suddenly thousands of years of legends and story-telling images flashed across Cit'lal-i's mind in a matter of an instant, like a crash course. It was as if he knew who this being was, but the words would not roll off his tongue.

_Mixcoatl is a black mask over your eyes and has distinctive red and white candy-cane stripes stained on his body for his sins, both good and bad._

_He was the first to strike fire with flint; a god of fire, along with war, and the hunt. He is the father of 400 sons, known as the Centzon Huitznahua, that all disappeared from the heavens. And he carried the double bladed weapon, which was forged by the Gods: Mictlantecuhtle of the Dead, Xipetotec of Disease, and Xolotl of Lightening, to aid him in ridding the world of weakness. And it cried death in poison when swung by his hands and slaughtered his enemies. Mixcoatl, God of the Hunt, brought forth naught and destruction and bereavement to the world. And in the tenth year, he returned to the seventh Heaven and resided in his temple for all time._

_~Fifth Book of Loss, third Canto_

He could not speak. The Devil before him was also silent, although in a foreboding way. The wind blew by lightly, letting Cit'lal-i unwillingly smell the god's scent. It was one of poison and death, but also of the woods. And the smell of fresh burned leaves, a witch's brew over a pine fire. He smelled both deadly and beautiful at the same time. They stared at each other for minutes, life going on about them. The female beside him looked at him for a moment and then shook her head and stood to walk away.

"Wait." Cit'lal-i whispered to her, moving neither his head nor body.

"What?" she sounded annoyed, her hands resting upon her hips.

"Do you not see…it?" still he was whispering.

Moments went by and she searched the area as if she were looking for something. Then, abruptly, she turned and walked away muttering "that human got to him …" and shaking her head. So she couldn't see the God that stood before Cit'lal-i? Finally, the God spoke and when he did it sounded as if swords and shields were clashing in the heat of battle. It was both rough and soft, a shadow in the light. He cocked his head as he spoke and it sent shivers down Citlal-i's spine.

"_**I can only be seen by you, Hunter.**_" His voice was a haunting melody.

Cit'lal-i couldn't think, he couldn't move. Under the god's enchantment, he nodded numbly and turned back around. The Hunter-god behind him rumbled a laugh. A thud hit the ground hard beside Cit'lal-i.

'Why was he here?' He couldn't find the words to ask his questions. The grass moved a little in the breeze and the trees began to speak to each other. Still, the place seemed to be empty to Cit'lal-i.

"_**They sent me to help you.**_" The God's voice broke the windy silence.

Cit'lal-i felt a stab at his ego. Why would HE need help? He looked to the God in a nonchalantly challenging way.

"_**You'll need the help, Hunter. Believe me.**_"

There was a moment of awkward silence. They both sat there, looking at the sunset in different ways. The God looked at it as if he were trapped again by time. He sighed and shook his head, looking to the sky for any answers among the stars. The constellations showed that the Goddess of the Moon was laughing at him. He growled deep in his throat and the stars returned to normal.

"You don't like the night do you?" Cit'lal-i had calmed down and was thinking out his situation carefully. A false word could end him.

He saw the night as another chance to get up and move, to attack the Dragon by surprise. The only thing on his mind now was Xochiyotl. But his companions were tired and he knew he couldn't kill the beast on his own.

"_**No, I love the night. It is the one who lights it and her servants that I dislike.**_" Mixcoatl gnashed his fangs together in frustration.

"The one who lights it? Do you mean the moon?" Cit'lal-i's tone was confused.

Mixcoatl looked at the worldly Hunter for a moment. He seemed more like a brother than anything else right now. Emotions struggled inside him and his consciousness fought the urge to let them out. Years of anger at his Goddess sister and her servants bubbled over and he had to tell the Hunter at least a little of what was happening.

"_**You know one of her servants well, though you might not realize it…**_"

The Seventh Heaven

Coyolxauhqui shrieked at the ceiling. She tore at the sheets of her throne and shouted at all who could hear. The God's and Goddesses crowded to her temple to see what was happening. Inside, they found all of her stars surrounding the throne and Coyolxauhqui. Standing in front of them were Xochiquetzal, Quetzalcoatl, and Tezcatlipoca. The Goddess of beauty seemed annoyed, just like the other two.

"What do you want Moon?" Xochiquetzal frowned and shook her head.

"He's telling him! He's betraying me! Help!" the Moon had tears running down her face and her skin seemed tanner than most remembered.

"Who's telling who of what?" Quetzalcoatl sighed.

"I think I know what she is talking about. A favor she had me do a while back." Tezcatlipoca frowned deeper than Beauty.

"What?"

"What?!"

"NO!" the Goddess of the moon charged at the God of temptation with her nails drawn back and teeth bared.

She hit him hard and began scratching and shouting and biting all at the same time. With a heave, the God of temptation threw her across the temple. He roared at her and in an instant, she snapped out of her angered stupor. The three Deities sighed at her as the God of temptation's wounds healed before them, without a single drop of blood hitting the marble flooring. He turned to look at the others and when they nodded, he turned again.

"Tell us, Tezcatlipoca. What favor did she ask of you?" Xochiquetzal rested a hand on her crimson clad hip.

He smiled and began with a long breath.

"It was a while back. She decided, before she went insane, that the Hunter needed a little temptation to love the human girl. She sang out my name. In a matter of seconds, I appeared at her door; I don't know why. 'What do you want?' I asked. 'Make him lust for her.' Coyolxauhqui spoke as if she controlled me. I was suspicious. 'Just do it, brother…it will do no harm.' She promised. I said 'Very well, but I will not bow to your whim every moment…remember that.' And with that I disappeared." And he finished his narrative.

The Moon was lying on the floor, whimpering. She was incredibly tan and didn't have the strength to stand any longer.

"Which star was it that tempted the Hunter?" the Goddess of beauty called to the ring around the moon.

"It was I." Nelli called out in a voice that sounded like falling rain.

"And you are not ashamed of your choice?" Quetzalcoatl inquired as if he knew the answer.

"No, I am not. I was serving my Goddess and…"

"Please tell us the rest." The Goddess of beauty was smiling.

"And I liked it. I was born a star and have never…experienced the pleasures of life."

"Well, maybe you'd like to become a human then?" Quetzalcoatl walked toward her and held out his hand.

It was entirely her choice…

Night of the Full Beaver Moon in Jaguar Cave, in the forests of Tenochtitlan

"So that was all set up by…heaven?" Cit'lal-i was thoroughly confused.

The night had fallen long ago and the stars were glistening dimly in the heavens and the moon looked as if it were very far away. The Hunter was tired and his eyes were drooping. Everything on him begged for some sleep and relaxation.

"_**Yes. The Moon always seems to want everything for herself.**_" Mixcoatl hissed angrily.

Cit'lal-i hissed a little in an echo to his God's feelings. The dream had been created by heaven. He had to ask a question that his mind was thinking, but his heart was denying. In fact, everything on his body was denying it.

"Do…do I really love her?" Cit'lal-i didn't turn or look at the God.

There was a sigh and then a little laugh. Moments passed in silence and Cit'lal felt himself begin to drift off into sleep unwillingly.

"_**I don't know. Do you?**_" The God asked with a tone.

But Cit'lal-i was already asleep and silent. The God smiled and looked again to the sky. The grass underneath him was beginning to get soggy and the air was moist. A storm was blowing in off of the sea. Something about the air smelt like magic and somewhat of mischievousness. Mixcoatl continued to stare into the sky until the relentless hold of night waned. When his stomach began to grumble, he didn't recognize the feeling or sound. Then, as his mortal yautja memories came back to him, he remembered his hunger and the only way to satisfy it. Standing, the God turned to the forest. With a smile, he walked toward the trees, which seemed to bend to get out of his way.

_Something was coming. It was seething and black and cold and it covered the walls in a goo and reddish bloody mess. He was disgusted and yet at the same time he wanted to fight every one of the serpent creatures. Each one was going to make a good trophy on his wall. They poured up onto the temple as one seething mass of teeth and hate. As they reached him, he noticed that she was not there. Where was she? Something like a sandy beach floated into his mind, and her face smiling happily up at him made his chest warm._

_"Isn't the ocean nice right now?"_

_But a feeling of dread hit him as the scene boiled over into a horrible mess. Crimson liquid was strewn across the sands and she was lying on the ground in a pool of blood and her arm, her poor arm. _

_"Cit'lal-i!" she looked up at him with blood and tears and sand on her face. _

_And he lunged for her…_

Cit'lal-i shrieked and jolted upright. He roared and his hand shot out to touch Xochiyotl. But she wasn't there. Despair hit him as soon as he realized she was gone. Crumbling into a ball, Cit'lal-i allowed his anguish to pour in loud, sad, garbled noises as tears ran down his face. There was a hole in his chest and as the day continued, Cit'lal-i didn't move once. He stayed in his curled position, keeping his eyes closed to keep that smiling picture of Xochiyotl in his head.

Hours passed, then a day. And on the morning of the second day, Mixcoatl walked up to the hunter and kicked him hard in the ribs. The precious vision of his beloved flew from his head nearly as fast as Cit'lal-i flew through the air. The pain came only a second after he had hit the trunk of a very familiar tree. Getting up, the Hunter winced and blinked his eyes repeatedly to clear his vision. He shouted at anyone that was near and then opened his eyes. Everything looked the same, desolate and lonely. He sat up slowly, groaning at the feel of his cramped muscles and sore eyes. Everything hurt.

"_**You're pathetic.**_" Mixcoatl spat at Cit'lal-i.

"I-I love her. She's…gone" he couldn't get her out of his mind.

"_**Mine is gone as well. But I must move on. You must do the same, Hunter.**_"

"What?" Cit'lal-i had never heard of the God of the Hunt having a mate before.

"Yes_**. She was even more beautiful than the Goddess of Beauty herself. Coatlicue was my heart and soul. However, she died long before your ancestors were even thought of. My sons met their demise when they, and their sister Coyolxauhqui, found that their mother Coatlicue was pregnant and they attempted to kill her. However, as they attacked she gave birth to my youngest son, a grown man and armed Huitzilopochtli, who killed his half-siblings. Quetzalcoatl is also said to be my son, although I do not claim him.**_" Mixcoatl looked to the sky as if something in it were going to help him.

"Why do you not?"

"_**He acts too much older than me.**_" And the God let it stand at that.

"So…" Cit'lal-i started. "How did…she die?"

Mixcoatl looked down on him and said nothing. There was a little 'mind your own business' growl and the god turned and walked to one of the trees in the glade. He stood there for a moment, and then sprang into the trees. Cit'lal-i sat for more time than he would have liked to, then stood and noticed that the others were not here. For a moment, he panicked. Looking around, he found a chunk of wood lying by the remains of a fire. Something was chiseled into it roughly with a blade.

We have gone onward to the sea. Follow us.

He remembered vaguely hearing the others tell him things, and yell his name. He had not had the will to move or respond. Cit'lal-i nodded to himself and turned toward the God. He was nowhere to be seen, but still here.

"Where is the Sea?" Cit'lal-i asked.

The God appeared next to him in a flash of branches and twinge of leaves. He was laughing, a deep rumbling coming from his throat. Still gurgling, he pointed toward the west, to the left of the cave. Cit'lal-i nodded and took off. He needed to find her, the longer he didn't know where she was, the quicker he died inside.

On the Beach By what is now called the "Gulf of Mexico"

Xochiyotl was scared. She trembled despite the high temperature and her feet stuck in the wet sand as waves lapped at her feet and ankles. The Goddess before her smiled evilly. It had been three sunsets; they had stood and sat here on the beach. Xochiyotl was vaguely aware of hunger snapping at her stomach and weariness in her limbs. She had fallen asleep once, only for a while, and found herself floating in the ocean for her 'weakness' as the Goddess called it.

"I am the sea." Her voice sounded much like a waterfall.

Xochiyotl couldn't say anything. She merely stood, large tears beginning to leak down her face. Suddenly, the Goddess hissed through her teeth and grimaced. The teen knew that look; she tensed and hunched her shoulders. The Goddess looked at Xochiyotl as if she were trash and shouted, "Disgusting wretch, weakling!"

She continued to throw ugly words out as she threw a horrid rogue wave at the poor teen, throwing her hither and thither. The teen was smashed against a rock wall and then the ocean floor in only a few fleeting moments. She swallowed the salty death and battled against the pushing currents in an effort to stay alive. In another second, she was back on the sand, belly down, throwing up what was left in her stomach. Her arm was bent unnaturally and felt like it was on fire, her throat and eyes and stomach burned from the salt, and her head was bleeding profusely. Still, she said nothing, her eyes watering from despair and hurt, her teeth clattered together from the bitter cold of the water.

"My name is Toyota Mahime. I am the eastern sea." Her horrible voice made Xochiyotl cringe.

Then, as Xochiyotl looked up at the female, the Goddess melted into the waters. And she was gone from this world, leaving Xochiyotl and Brave Star on the sandy beach. The teen didn't move, avoiding anything that could cause her pain.

"I am sorry human." The Dragon half-heartedly spoke.

The sun was setting on the fourth day of her absence and Citlal-i was still not here. Maybe he has forgotten me. Xochiyotl thought for a moment. And that simple thought, of the one she loved forgetting her, made her bawl aloud. She cried herself to sleep. Right on the beach, not caring whether she lived or died. Her clothes were soaked and her hair was nothing but a ball of salt and dirt now. Her figure in the spoilt waters reminded her much of living alone in her cave. Sore once she wished she could have lived that over and over again, with that single shred of hope she carried in her heart. Now she had no hope and no reason to get any at all. Who was she that she deserved hope of all things? Tears continued to pour as another day passed.

It was morning again, and dread carried in Xochiyotl's heart. She rose from her sandy bed and looked around, startled at first. Then, she realized that the walls of blue and grey were moving and belonged to the Dragon himself. She sighed and her shoulders drooped. Sitting down and propping her head on her palms, Xochiyotl cried again. She had tried to fight, attempting to get away from the Dragon and Goddess. And now all she could think of was to pray, to beg for something or someone to help her. She closed her eyes and before a thought even entered her head, something flashed across her mind. The temperature dropped and when she opened her eyes before her laid a blue-green serpent about the size of an alligator. It looked up at her with yellow eyes and cocked its head. Words poured from it as if it were speaking directly to her mind rather than her ear.

"We are not here to search for our future; we are here to create it."

"Who-who are you?" Xochiyotl asked in a small voice.

"I am what you see."

"You're a lizard?"

The snake-lizard looked at her balefully. He shook his serpentine head and looked at the scaly walls around her.

"No, a god."

And with that, it burrowed into the sand and was gone. The temperature rose, and the humidity returned with it. Xochiyotl had to think for a minute. What had happened? Was it saying that she spend too much time whining? She had been complaining a lot. She looked back and finally, with a new determination in her heart, she decided to fight. She would create it.

There was nothing she could do until she freed herself from the Dragon though. Snatching the idea from the serpent, Xochiyotl turned to one of the slithering walls and began to dig at its base. It took hours to get a whole big enough for her to fit through, but when she did, she smiled. The Dragon was asleep and ignoring her for now. Turning, she saw nothing but open beaches and rock cliffs for miles. This was going to be difficult. Still determined, she dug her heels and toes and hands in the rocks of the cliff and climbed. With muscles developed from hours of hard work and living on farms for most of her life, it only took thirty minutes for her to reach the top of the smallest ledge. Sweat covered her body, she was clearly dehydrated, and her muscles and ached for rest. But as the teen looked up, she swore her eyes deceived her. Figures, covered in black seemed to be walking nearer and nearer to her location. Joy sprang in her heart and tears covered her eyes. She stood and just as she did, thunder boomed. Xochiyotl recognized the infuriated noise as the roar of the Dragon and immediately smashed herself to the ground. Too late, the Dragon swung his massive paw at her and she felt something break again as she was thrown off her ledge. She hit the sandy beach on her back and writhed in pain, unable to breathe. All she could see, when she opened her eyes, was the gold of the Dragon's irises. He growled at her and again roared. This time however, his noise was one of pain and not anger. The great beast whipped his head around and hissed as purple blood flowed from the spear stuck in his neck. His serpentine body began to twist into the sky even as the Hunters stuck themselves to him. They roared out commands and shouts that Xochiyotl couldn't understand or hear clearly. Her head was foggy, but she still stayed away from the comfort that the darkness offered in order to see the creatures fight.

It was beautiful. A slithering god of the sky shot upward and twirled with little black insect looking creatures crawling over him. His velvet mane whipped behind him and his hands clawed at the air as if her were climbing an invisible staircase to heaven. One of the Hunters was thrown off and fell a long way to hit the ground with a loud thud. The Hunter looked toward the sky and didn't seem to care. The fight went on with goblets of purple blood hit the ground in splashes and tainted the sea. Neon green covered Brave Star's scales in patches; still, he fought against the Two-Legs-Weapon-Carrier Aliens. In frustration, the God spat flames from his mouth and ended up only hurting himself. One of the Hunters was too close to his mouth. The creature was lifted by his massive maw and as Brave Star crunched down, he heard a snapping of armor and bone and could taste the sourness of the creature's blood. The fight began to slow down and the creatures began to jump from his scales to retreat. He saw that the human was being carried off by what he thought was the female of the group. Hissing, he spun around and forgot his original mission for a while, he plunged into the sea as his wounds burned it reminded him of the pain of loss.

Xochiyotl woke to a dim fire and the moans and rapid clicks of her rescuers. She turned her head a little and pain shot up her spine. With a muffled cry, the teen winced and lay perfectly still. Tears tugged at her eyes. For a few seconds nothing happened, and then a female of their species popped into view and huffed a laugh. She shook her head and began to talk to one of the others in the background. Xochiyotl became aware of her fevered skin and aching arm and leg. Her arm was still bent slightly but her leg looked like it had been snapped back into place. Had she really broken both? Looking down without moving her head, the teen saw sticks and thick cloth wrapping around her broken limbs and torn skin. Some of the wrapping was stained red and other parts were greenish, suggesting infection. With another moan, this time out of frustration, the girl relaxed again, it seemed to feel much better than looking around, or moving at all for that matter. After another moment of time and listening, she recognized some of the Hunters as guards of the Hunting Temple. Smiling a little, she closed her eyes and imagined Cit'lal-I and his comfortable room. His eyes and voice and scent stuck in her head even as the female came back for her. Amazingly, the female spoke Nahautl and her voice startled Xochiyotl.

"So you're the one Cit'lal-i is looking for." She seemed to laugh.

Xochiyotl's eyes widened and she looked at the Huntress in earnest, attempting to speak.

"He-he…I…s…al….rite?" she coughed and spat a little.

"Yes he is, and looking for you non-stop." She turned to look and play with something out of Xochiyotl's vision.

"Here, you need to eat and drink something other than seawater." Again she sounded like she was laughing.

Helping the human sit up, the Huntress smiled and sat the bowl of soup in her lap. It smelled heavily of the favored yeasty meat of the Hunters. After a few bites, Xochiyotl had a few questions to ask, her voice was a little better and she figured she'd better ask while she could.

"Wh-what is…your…name?" she looked up sheepishly.

"Me? My name is Yao-tl." She smiled again. She seemed fond of smiling.

So her name meant Worrier. Xochiyotl nodded and took another bite of the soup. It seemed to fill her stomach a lot and her heart a little. She looked around the cave and took everything in. The fire was in the middle of the cave, with three others crowded around it. They seemed to be bandaged up and having fun. The pot they had been cooking in was still over the flames and bubbling its own brew. Weapons and armor were scattered around in piles and blankets lay everywhere. The place had its own homey style and feeling of comfort to it. She looked down to the now-empty bowl of soup. It was taken abruptly by Yao-tl, still smiling, and she got up and walked away whispering to herself. Xochiyotl's stomach was full, so she aptly refused a second helping, but felt her eyelids droop and let herself fall into a healing slumber.

_Morning of the 5th day of Hunting, Running along the Beaches of Mexico_

Cit'lal-I hissed and stopped for a moment. He looked around and saw nothing but sand and salty water on one side and a steep cliff on the other. Turning his head to the God beside him, he saw that Mixcoatl was crouched to the ground and inspecting something.

"_**You move too quickly to see.**_" And the God pointed to the crushed sand of a human's foot.

Cit'lal-i gazed around desperately. Sand lay in huge hills and deep holes in the ground bore evidence of a struggle. On the slight breeze, he could smell her blood. Panicking, he swung his head around and hissed angrily at anyone that would dare hurt his Xochiyotl! With a little laugh from the God, Cit'lal-i looked to the cliff face and used his helmet's vision to watch the recent heat changes of the rock. Little human hands and feet showed in orange and red at the Hunter nearly cried in joy. He was so close! With new determination in his heart, the Hunter dug his claws and feet in the rocky soil and began to climb.

Nothing tired him out when he was looking for the one he loved. His limbs and blood was singing by the time he reached the ledge at the top. Silently, Cit'lal-i wondered how Xochiyotl could have climbed it herself. As the God arrived on the ledge as well, he gasped and then laughed ragingly. When his body was done shaking and his noise had grown quiet, Mixcoatl smiled and turned to Cit'lal-i.

"_**Your Xochiyotl is very clever to have gotten up here. But it is what happened next that is amusing. Life is a waste of time.**_" And he shook his head.

For moments, Cit'lal-i wondered what he was talking about. Then, remembering that he was a God, the Hunter knew that Mixcoatl had been speaking of the past. The God could read the plants and animals of the area to piece together a story of the past. Growling and frowning, Cit'lal-i nearly roared to the God.

"Show me what you are talking about!"

When the God turned around and smiled, it was plainly shown not by his face but by his body language. He nodded and Cit'lal-i was thrown back in time.

He could see Xochiyotl turn to one of the slithering walls she was encased in and begin to dig. It took hours to get a hole in the sand big enough for her to fit through, but when she did, she smiled. The Dragon was asleep and ignoring her for now. Turning, she saw nothing but open beaches and rock cliffs for miles. Seemingly determined, the girl dug her bare heels and toes and hands in the rocks of the cliff and heaved her body into the air. What was left of her clothing was torn and ragged, blowing the sea breeze. With muscles developed from hours of hard work and living on farms for most of her life, it only took thirty minutes for her to reach the top where Cit'lal-i was standing. The Dragon still slept much like a snake would bathe in the sun. Sweat covered Xochiyotl's body, she was clearly dehydrated, and her face showed nothing but determination. She stood and just as she did, thunder boomed around the beach. As she heard the roar of the Dragon, she immediately smashed herself to the ground. Too late, the Dragon swung his massive paw at her and Cit'lal-i heard something break as she was thrown off her ledge. She hit the sandy beach on her back and writhed in pain, unable to breathe. And the vision faded with Cit'lal-i looking squarely at her face.

When the Hunter arrived back into his own mental state, his entire being felt as if it were on fire. He roared out of both agony and mental pain at watching his love get hurt. When he fell to his knees, Mixcoatl looked down at him without sympathy.

"_**The vision of God's is not made for mortal eyes. It took a toll on you to see what only the immortal are allowed. And it took a toll on my mortal body as well.**_"

When Cit'lal-i looked up, the candy-cane Hunter had removed his mask and was gasping deeply. He shook his head, dropped to his knees, and coughed deeply in his throat. Warm droplets of neon green blood splattered the ground in little globules. The Hunter looked upward after a few more coughs and met eyes with Cit'lal-i. He smiled a perfect Hunter smile and winked at the mortal male.

"_**I may be a God, but I have the body of a weak mortal Hunter.**_" He growled in good nature, more joking at himself than anyone else.

"Yeah, a weak, incredibly strong male in his damn prime." Cit'lal-i smiled and shook the fatigue out of his limbs.

A few moments later, the sky exploded. Clouds withered away as balls of fire rained down from heaven. A great beast followed them in a hurry, his blue scales shining in the midday sunlight. A storm erupted, lightning and thunder raining down on those below. Claws and fangs bared, the Dragon smashed against the ground, shattering rock and flaying sand. Cit'lal-i roared at the challenge and heard Mixcoatl do the same. In awe, Cit'lal-i forgot about the slithering hatred around him and focused only on Mixcoatl. As he drew out his Weeping Spear, the Hunter was smiling, mask still off, and baring his teeth. Cit'lal-i only hoped that he could do the same.

Brought back to the realm of the living, Cit'lal-i drew his own weapons and the Hunt began.

The Dragon was everywhere. His body seemed to encompass everything around Cit'lal-i, and therefore all the Hunter could do was slash. He began with the tail, whipping around and driving his blades deep into the slimy flesh and hearing the loud protest of the sky God. In an instant, the ground was layered in a pool of deep purple blood, the life of the Dragon. Brave Star whipped around and dug his teeth deep into the sand, missing the Candy-Cane Hunter by inches. The God of the Hunt smiled and whipped around with another roar of anger. His spear stuck firmly into the Dragon's snout and in another moment he was hefted up into the sky with it. Everything was chaotic, in the backgrounds of the fight thunder roared and lightning struck the sand, melting it into glass. The seas boiled over onto the beach attempting to drown any who were too near. And the Dragon roiled and shot into the sky, his body bleeding and cut, scales falling off of him in heaps. With another roar, he shook his head and hovered mid-sky, body rolling with the winds. Teeth snapped at the Candy-Cane Hunter, only missing him by inches. Below he could see Cit'lal-i, Bundled up in the Dragon's curled flesh and being crushed by the God's Fury. Just as he was about to shove a claw through Brave Star's eye, another kind of roar sounded. This one was a chorus of anger and one voice that was different from the rest. Unable to see the through the Dragon's large head, Mixcoatl only guessed that it could be the "help" Cit'lal-i had brought along.

And in another instant, the Dragon was slithering and roaring in desperation. He plunged through the sky, avoiding the ledge with the Hunters on it, and strait into the deep sea. Once inside, his wounds began to heal almost instantly. Mixcoatl recognized the sea as the Dragon's only refuge. He turned to the tail where Cit'lal-i was barely holding on and used what little of his Godly magic he had left.

You have to kill him now! Get him out of the sea!

But Cit'lal-i couldn't hear, even in his mind he was deaf. Every inch of him hurt and every wound stung from the salt. Thank the Gods and Goddesses above for the breathing gear on his armor! Though his mask, he could see the God and every slithering scale of the monster. And he knew that the wounds were healing. His grasp began to loosen and his eyes drooped a little in concentration, but he couldn't give up, he HAD to hold on.

He heard his mother. Oh how he had loved her so… "It isn't so much as what happens to us that matters as what we do with it."

With new determination, Cit'lal-i growled and held on tighter, until the Dragon was forced up to breathe. And when Cit'lal-i head came from under the waters, he heard the sweetest noise in all the worlds.

"Cit'lal-i!"

Xochiyotl was screaming and shouting from the shore. Cit'lal-i looked to her and for a moment, the world faded into a small dot. All there was her worried face and small little self. She was bandaged up in various places, but looked healthier than he expected her to. Her poor body was withered and beaten. Blood was stained in various places and her hair was a crumpled mess of obsidian locks. And she was the absolute best thing in his world, in anyone's world. But she was too close to the shore…

Before his very eyes, a wave snatched up his human love and threw her into the ocean. Roaring out of agony and anger, Cit'lal-i snapped his head back to the Dragon and began to climb. Every tendon and muscle in his limbs agreed with him and supplied the Hunter with ample strength despite his grave wounds. His claws dung heavily in the gorged flesh of the Sky god. Scales continued to fall from the Dragon as Cit'lal-i climbed and climbed, reaching Mixcoatl in a matter of minutes. The Candy-Cane god smiled and coughed a little. Neon blood spurted from his mouth and he gave a witty smile. His spear still firmly lodged in the Dragon's snout, the god gestured to Cit'lal-i to finish.

"_**I have no use for it right now. I will take it back when…" **_he coughed a little again. "_**I want to.**_"

The god winked a little and looked back to the Dragon, who was fighting ferociously to rid himself of his attackers. He looked back to his companion…

And he let go of the spear. Mixcoatl, God of the Hunt disappeared into the waves below, leaving behind his precious Weeping Spear and his only friend. Cit'lal-i allowed himself a gurgled protest and flung his hand out to catch the God. He cried a loud call of sadness and loss to the ocean below. A second later, he was drowned out by Brave Star. After hanging onto the holy weapon, Cit'lal-i focused again on the Dragon. In one last desperate move, Brave Star roared and turned his massive head to plead with the Hunter. He didn't want to die! As he opened his maw, something exploded and the pain only came a second later.

Cit'lal-i was a monster with nothing left in him but the urge to kill. His clawed hand dragged out what was left of the Dragon's eye and threw it into the sea. The blood and goo from the eye socket splashed onto his helmet, feeling his skin absorb the heavenly liquids. With a roar of agony, the Dragon collapsed into himself, falling toward the sand below. The enraged Hunter fell with him, mixed images flashing across his mind. When Cit'lal-i hit the ground, his world went black.

The fight was over. Brave Star lay in a crumpled heap on the sand, whimpering. His blood stained the shore and his scales continued to shed in the absence of power. Had his Goddesses forsaken him? Tears san from his one good eye and for a moment, he could see what he had been… and what he had become. If he had simply let them alone, the god would have lived. And the little human girl… she reminded him so much of his Flower Dancer. Her pink hide…

The Hunter stood again. How he could stand with his injuries, Brave Star did not know. Something was wrong with him.

Cit'lal-i was seeing red. His killing gland had exploded inside his body. And his blood was on fire. Growls and roars emerged from his throat randomly. And as soon as he found the giant slithering beast again, his fury returned. He flew at the Dragon with his claws barred and fangs clacking against the metal of his mask. In anger and in blind Hunting Glory, Cit'lal-i ripped his sealed mask from his face, leaving scratches from the sealing clips. He stood in a position in of fury and roared again in the Dragon's face.

Something was wrong with him. He knew, he could tell by the red tint to his heat vision and the roars from his mouth. His veins hurt, his limbs were on fire! And in his mind the same bloody images continued to explode past his sight.

_The vision of his baby brother, while hunting the Kainde Amedha on his first glorious hunt, dying at the hand of a Warrior class hard meat flashed. His mother and his father's fights and the bruises and blood splatters they would leave. And someone, he could not remember her name, with black hair and bright green eyes, beaten and bloodied by a Jaguar in the woods nearby somewhere._

_Again she was there, closer in his mind now, looking up at him through mottled hair and chains. And suddenly his mother ripped into the picture and she was… the blood was disgusting! The smell of her rotten flesh and the sight of what was once her face…_

He was losing himself, something was running farther and farther away from him and part of him, the part that was sensible and feeling, was screaming for help. But the other half, the Hunter, screamed louder for blood and hate and death. And that part seemed to be winning.


	13. Flesh and Blood

Chapter 12: Flesh and Blood

_Night of the Full Beaver Moon in Jaguar Cave, in the forests of Tenochtitlan_

Cit'lal-i frowned and looked up to the creature blocking his light. The mortal Hunter didn't seem to recognize him. Then something hit Cit'lal-i. This creature was around twelve feet tall, and was adorned with black and crimson armor. His skin was an oddly candy cane striped variation. He carried a…

Suddenly thousands of years of legends and story-telling images flashed across Cit'lal-i's mind in a matter of an instant, like a crash course. It was as if he knew who this being was, but the words would not roll off his tongue.

_Mixcoatl is a black mask over your eyes and has distinctive red and white candy-cane stripes stained on his body for his sins, both good and bad._

_He was the first to strike fire with flint; a god of fire, along with war, and the hunt. He is the father of 400 sons, known as the Centzon Huitznahua, that all disappeared from the heavens. And he carried the double bladed weapon, which was forged by the Gods: Mictlantecuhtle of the Dead, Xipetotec of Disease, and Xolotl of Lightening, to aid him in ridding the world of weakness. And it cried death in poison when swung by his hands and slaughtered his enemies. Mixcoatl, God of the Hunt, brought forth naught and destruction and bereavement to the world. And in the tenth year, he returned to the seventh Heaven and resided in his temple for all time._

_~Fifth Book of Loss, third Canto_

He could not speak. The Devil before him was also silent, although in a foreboding way. The wind blew by lightly, letting Cit'lal-i unwillingly smell the god's scent. It was one of poison and death, but also of the woods. And the smell of fresh burned leaves, a witch's brew over a pine fire. He smelled both deadly and beautiful at the same time. They stared at each other for minutes, life going on about them. The female beside him looked at him for a moment and then shook her head and stood to walk away.

"Wait." Cit'lal-i whispered to her, moving neither his head nor body.

"What?" she sounded annoyed, her hands resting upon her hips.

"Do you not see…it?" still he was whispering.

Moments went by and she searched the area as if she were looking for something. Then, abruptly, she turned and walked away muttering "that human got to him …" and shaking her head. So she couldn't see the God that stood before Cit'lal-i? Finally, the God spoke and when he did it sounded as if swords and shields were clashing in the heat of battle. It was both rough and soft, a shadow in the light. He cocked his head as he spoke and it sent shivers down Citlal-i's spine.

"_**I can only be seen by you, Hunter.**_" His voice was a haunting melody.

Cit'lal-i couldn't think, he couldn't move. Under the god's enchantment, he nodded numbly and turned back around. The Hunter-god behind him rumbled a laugh. A thud hit the ground hard beside Cit'lal-i.

'Why was he here?' He couldn't find the words to ask his questions. The grass moved a little in the breeze and the trees began to speak to each other. Still, the place seemed to be empty to Cit'lal-i.

"_**They sent me to help you.**_" The God's voice broke the windy silence.

Cit'lal-i felt a stab at his ego. Why would HE need help? He looked to the God in a nonchalantly challenging way.

"_**You'll need the help, Hunter. Believe me.**_"

There was a moment of awkward silence. They both sat there, looking at the sunset in different ways. The God looked at it as if he were trapped again by time. He sighed and shook his head, looking to the sky for any answers among the stars. The constellations showed that the Goddess of the Moon was laughing at him. He growled deep in his throat and the stars returned to normal.

"You don't like the night do you?" Cit'lal-i had calmed down and was thinking out his situation carefully. A false word could end him.

He saw the night as another chance to get up and move, to attack the Dragon by surprise. The only thing on his mind now was Xochiyotl. But his companions were tired and he knew he couldn't kill the beast on his own.

"_**No, I love the night. It is the one who lights it and her servants that I dislike.**_" Mixcoatl gnashed his fangs together in frustration.

"The one who lights it? Do you mean the moon?" Cit'lal-i's tone was confused.

Mixcoatl looked at the worldly Hunter for a moment. He seemed more like a brother than anything else right now. Emotions struggled inside him and his consciousness fought the urge to let them out. Years of anger at his Goddess sister and her servants bubbled over and he had to tell the Hunter at least a little of what was happening.

"_**You know one of her servants well, though you might not realize it…**_"

The Seventh Heaven

Coyolxauhqui shrieked at the ceiling. She tore at the sheets of her throne and shouted at all who could hear. The God's and Goddesses crowded to her temple to see what was happening. Inside, they found all of her stars surrounding the throne and Coyolxauhqui. Standing in front of them were Xochiquetzal, Quetzalcoatl, and Tezcatlipoca. The Goddess of beauty seemed annoyed, just like the other two.

"What do you want Moon?" Xochiquetzal frowned and shook her head.

"He's telling him! He's betraying me! Help!" the Moon had tears running down her face and her skin seemed tanner than most remembered.

"Who's telling who of what?" Quetzalcoatl sighed.

"I think I know what she is talking about. A favor she had me do a while back." Tezcatlipoca frowned deeper than Beauty.

"What?"

"What?!"

"NO!" the Goddess of the moon charged at the God of temptation with her nails drawn back and teeth bared.

She hit him hard and began scratching and shouting and biting all at the same time. With a heave, the God of temptation threw her across the temple. He roared at her and in an instant, she snapped out of her angered stupor. The three Deities sighed at her as the God of temptation's wounds healed before them, without a single drop of blood hitting the marble flooring. He turned to look at the others and when they nodded, he turned again.

"Tell us, Tezcatlipoca. What favor did she ask of you?" Xochiquetzal rested a hand on her crimson clad hip.

He smiled and began with a long breath.

"It was a while back. She decided, before she went insane, that the Hunter needed a little temptation to love the human girl. She sang out my name. In a matter of seconds, I appeared at her door; I don't know why. 'What do you want?' I asked. 'Make him lust for her.' Coyolxauhqui spoke as if she controlled me. I was suspicious. 'Just do it, brother…it will do no harm.' She promised. I said 'Very well, but I will not bow to your whim every moment…remember that.' And with that I disappeared." And he finished his narrative.

The Moon was lying on the floor, whimpering. She was incredibly tan and didn't have the strength to stand any longer.

"Which star was it that tempted the Hunter?" the Goddess of beauty called to the ring around the moon.

"It was I." Nelli called out in a voice that sounded like falling rain.

"And you are not ashamed of your choice?" Quetzalcoatl inquired as if he knew the answer.

"No, I am not. I was serving my Goddess and…"

"Please tell us the rest." The Goddess of beauty was smiling.

"And I liked it. I was born a star and have never…experienced the pleasures of life."

"Well, maybe you'd like to become a human then?" Quetzalcoatl walked toward her and held out his hand.

It was entirely her choice…

Night of the Full Beaver Moon in Jaguar Cave, in the forests of Tenochtitlan

"So that was all set up by…heaven?" Cit'lal-i was thoroughly confused.

The night had fallen long ago and the stars were glistening dimly in the heavens and the moon looked as if it were very far away. The Hunter was tired and his eyes were drooping. Everything on him begged for some sleep and relaxation.

"_**Yes. The Moon always seems to want everything for herself.**_" Mixcoatl hissed angrily.

Cit'lal-i hissed a little in an echo to his God's feelings. The dream had been created by heaven. He had to ask a question that his mind was thinking, but his heart was denying. In fact, everything on his body was denying it.

"Do…do I really love her?" Cit'lal-i didn't turn or look at the God.

There was a sigh and then a little laugh. Moments passed in silence and Cit'lal felt himself begin to drift off into sleep unwillingly.

"_**I don't know. Do you?**_" The God asked with a tone.

But Cit'lal-i was already asleep and silent. The God smiled and looked again to the sky. The grass underneath him was beginning to get soggy and the air was moist. A storm was blowing in off of the sea. Something about the air smelt like magic and somewhat of mischievousness. Mixcoatl continued to stare into the sky until the relentless hold of night waned. When his stomach began to grumble, he didn't recognize the feeling or sound. Then, as his mortal yautja memories came back to him, he remembered his hunger and the only way to satisfy it. Standing, the God turned to the forest. With a smile, he walked toward the trees, which seemed to bend to get out of his way.

_Something was coming. It was seething and black and cold and it covered the walls in a goo and reddish bloody mess. He was disgusted and yet at the same time he wanted to fight every one of the serpent creatures. Each one was going to make a good trophy on his wall. They poured up onto the temple as one seething mass of teeth and hate. As they reached him, he noticed that she was not there. Where was she? Something like a sandy beach floated into his mind, and her face smiling happily up at him made his chest warm._

_"Isn't the ocean nice right now?"_

_But a feeling of dread hit him as the scene boiled over into a horrible mess. Crimson liquid was strewn across the sands and she was lying on the ground in a pool of blood and her arm, her poor arm. _

_"Cit'lal-i!" she looked up at him with blood and tears and sand on her face. _

_And he lunged for her…_

Cit'lal-i shrieked and jolted upright. He roared and his hand shot out to touch Xochiyotl. But she wasn't there. Despair hit him as soon as he realized she was gone. Crumbling into a ball, Cit'lal-i allowed his anguish to pour in loud, sad, garbled noises as tears ran down his face. There was a hole in his chest and as the day continued, Cit'lal-i didn't move once. He stayed in his curled position, keeping his eyes closed to keep that smiling picture of Xochiyotl in his head.

Hours passed, then a day. And on the morning of the second day, Mixcoatl walked up to the hunter and kicked him hard in the ribs. The precious vision of his beloved flew from his head nearly as fast as Cit'lal-i flew through the air. The pain came only a second after he had hit the trunk of a very familiar tree. Getting up, the Hunter winced and blinked his eyes repeatedly to clear his vision. He shouted at anyone that was near and then opened his eyes. Everything looked the same, desolate and lonely. He sat up slowly, groaning at the feel of his cramped muscles and sore eyes. Everything hurt.

"_**You're pathetic.**_" Mixcoatl spat at Cit'lal-i.

"I-I love her. She's…gone" he couldn't get her out of his mind.

"_**Mine is gone as well. But I must move on. You must do the same, Hunter.**_"

"What?" Cit'lal-i had never heard of the God of the Hunt having a mate before.

"Yes_**. She was even more beautiful than the Goddess of Beauty herself. Coatlicue was my heart and soul. However, she died long before your ancestors were even thought of. My sons met their demise when they, and their sister Coyolxauhqui, found that their mother Coatlicue was pregnant and they attempted to kill her. However, as they attacked she gave birth to my youngest son, a grown man and armed Huitzilopochtli, who killed his half-siblings. Quetzalcoatl is also said to be my son, although I do not claim him.**_" Mixcoatl looked to the sky as if something in it were going to help him.

"Why do you not?"

"_**He acts too much older than me.**_" And the God let it stand at that.

"So…" Cit'lal-i started. "How did…she die?"

Mixcoatl looked down on him and said nothing. There was a little 'mind your own business' growl and the god turned and walked to one of the trees in the glade. He stood there for a moment, and then sprang into the trees. Cit'lal-i sat for more time than he would have liked to, then stood and noticed that the others were not here. For a moment, he panicked. Looking around, he found a chunk of wood lying by the remains of a fire. Something was chiseled into it roughly with a blade.

We have gone onward to the sea. Follow us.

He remembered vaguely hearing the others tell him things, and yell his name. He had not had the will to move or respond. Cit'lal-i nodded to himself and turned toward the God. He was nowhere to be seen, but still here.

"Where is the Sea?" Cit'lal-i asked.

The God appeared next to him in a flash of branches and twinge of leaves. He was laughing, a deep rumbling coming from his throat. Still gurgling, he pointed toward the west, to the left of the cave. Cit'lal-i nodded and took off. He needed to find her, the longer he didn't know where she was, the quicker he died inside.

On the Beach By what is now called the "Gulf of Mexico"

Xochiyotl was scared. She trembled despite the high temperature and her feet stuck in the wet sand as waves lapped at her feet and ankles. The Goddess before her smiled evilly. It had been three sunsets; they had stood and sat here on the beach. Xochiyotl was vaguely aware of hunger snapping at her stomach and weariness in her limbs. She had fallen asleep once, only for a while, and found herself floating in the ocean for her 'weakness' as the Goddess called it.

"I am the sea." Her voice sounded much like a waterfall.

Xochiyotl couldn't say anything. She merely stood, large tears beginning to leak down her face. Suddenly, the Goddess hissed through her teeth and grimaced. The teen knew that look; she tensed and hunched her shoulders. The Goddess looked at Xochiyotl as if she were trash and shouted, "Disgusting wretch, weakling!"

She continued to throw ugly words out as she threw a horrid rogue wave at the poor teen, throwing her hither and thither. The teen was smashed against a rock wall and then the ocean floor in only a few fleeting moments. She swallowed the salty death and battled against the pushing currents in an effort to stay alive. In another second, she was back on the sand, belly down, throwing up what was left in her stomach. Her arm was bent unnaturally and felt like it was on fire, her throat and eyes and stomach burned from the salt, and her head was bleeding profusely. Still, she said nothing, her eyes watering from despair and hurt, her teeth clattered together from the bitter cold of the water.

"My name is Toyota Mahime. I am the eastern sea." Her horrible voice made Xochiyotl cringe.

Then, as Xochiyotl looked up at the female, the Goddess melted into the waters. And she was gone from this world, leaving Xochiyotl and Brave Star on the sandy beach. The teen didn't move, avoiding anything that could cause her pain.

"I am sorry human." The Dragon half-heartedly spoke.

The sun was setting on the fourth day of her absence and Citlal-i was still not here. Maybe he has forgotten me. Xochiyotl thought for a moment. And that simple thought, of the one she loved forgetting her, made her bawl aloud. She cried herself to sleep. Right on the beach, not caring whether she lived or died. Her clothes were soaked and her hair was nothing but a ball of salt and dirt now. Her figure in the spoilt waters reminded her much of living alone in her cave. Sore once she wished she could have lived that over and over again, with that single shred of hope she carried in her heart. Now she had no hope and no reason to get any at all. Who was she that she deserved hope of all things? Tears continued to pour as another day passed.

It was morning again, and dread carried in Xochiyotl's heart. She rose from her sandy bed and looked around, startled at first. Then, she realized that the walls of blue and grey were moving and belonged to the Dragon himself. She sighed and her shoulders drooped. Sitting down and propping her head on her palms, Xochiyotl cried again. She had tried to fight, attempting to get away from the Dragon and Goddess. And now all she could think of was to pray, to beg for something or someone to help her. She closed her eyes and before a thought even entered her head, something flashed across her mind. The temperature dropped and when she opened her eyes before her laid a blue-green serpent about the size of an alligator. It looked up at her with yellow eyes and cocked its head. Words poured from it as if it were speaking directly to her mind rather than her ear.

"We are not here to search for our future; we are here to create it."

"Who-who are you?" Xochiyotl asked in a small voice.

"I am what you see."

"You're a lizard?"

The snake-lizard looked at her balefully. He shook his serpentine head and looked at the scaly walls around her.

"No, a god."

And with that, it burrowed into the sand and was gone. The temperature rose, and the humidity returned with it. Xochiyotl had to think for a minute. What had happened? Was it saying that she spend too much time whining? She had been complaining a lot. She looked back and finally, with a new determination in her heart, she decided to fight. She would create it.

There was nothing she could do until she freed herself from the Dragon though. Snatching the idea from the serpent, Xochiyotl turned to one of the slithering walls and began to dig at its base. It took hours to get a whole big enough for her to fit through, but when she did, she smiled. The Dragon was asleep and ignoring her for now. Turning, she saw nothing but open beaches and rock cliffs for miles. This was going to be difficult. Still determined, she dug her heels and toes and hands in the rocks of the cliff and climbed. With muscles developed from hours of hard work and living on farms for most of her life, it only took thirty minutes for her to reach the top of the smallest ledge. Sweat covered her body, she was clearly dehydrated, and her muscles and ached for rest. But as the teen looked up, she swore her eyes deceived her. Figures, covered in black seemed to be walking nearer and nearer to her location. Joy sprang in her heart and tears covered her eyes. She stood and just as she did, thunder boomed. Xochiyotl recognized the infuriated noise as the roar of the Dragon and immediately smashed herself to the ground. Too late, the Dragon swung his massive paw at her and she felt something break again as she was thrown off her ledge. She hit the sandy beach on her back and writhed in pain, unable to breathe. All she could see, when she opened her eyes, was the gold of the Dragon's irises. He growled at her and again roared. This time however, his noise was one of pain and not anger. The great beast whipped his head around and hissed as purple blood flowed from the spear stuck in his neck. His serpentine body began to twist into the sky even as the Hunters stuck themselves to him. They roared out commands and shouts that Xochiyotl couldn't understand or hear clearly. Her head was foggy, but she still stayed away from the comfort that the darkness offered in order to see the creatures fight.

It was beautiful. A slithering god of the sky shot upward and twirled with little black insect looking creatures crawling over him. His velvet mane whipped behind him and his hands clawed at the air as if her were climbing an invisible staircase to heaven. One of the Hunters was thrown off and fell a long way to hit the ground with a loud thud. The Hunter looked toward the sky and didn't seem to care. The fight went on with goblets of purple blood hit the ground in splashes and tainted the sea. Neon green covered Brave Star's scales in patches; still, he fought against the Two-Legs-Weapon-Carrier Aliens. In frustration, the God spat flames from his mouth and ended up only hurting himself. One of the Hunters was too close to his mouth. The creature was lifted by his massive maw and as Brave Star crunched down, he heard a snapping of armor and bone and could taste the sourness of the creature's blood. The fight began to slow down and the creatures began to jump from his scales to retreat. He saw that the human was being carried off by what he thought was the female of the group. Hissing, he spun around and forgot his original mission for a while, he plunged into the sea as his wounds burned it reminded him of the pain of loss.

Xochiyotl woke to a dim fire and the moans and rapid clicks of her rescuers. She turned her head a little and pain shot up her spine. With a muffled cry, the teen winced and lay perfectly still. Tears tugged at her eyes. For a few seconds nothing happened, and then a female of their species popped into view and huffed a laugh. She shook her head and began to talk to one of the others in the background. Xochiyotl became aware of her fevered skin and aching arm and leg. Her arm was still bent slightly but her leg looked like it had been snapped back into place. Had she really broken both? Looking down without moving her head, the teen saw sticks and thick cloth wrapping around her broken limbs and torn skin. Some of the wrapping was stained red and other parts were greenish, suggesting infection. With another moan, this time out of frustration, the girl relaxed again, it seemed to feel much better than looking around, or moving at all for that matter. After another moment of time and listening, she recognized some of the Hunters as guards of the Hunting Temple. Smiling a little, she closed her eyes and imagined Cit'lal-I and his comfortable room. His eyes and voice and scent stuck in her head even as the female came back for her. Amazingly, the female spoke Nahautl and her voice startled Xochiyotl.

"So you're the one Cit'lal-i is looking for." She seemed to laugh.

Xochiyotl's eyes widened and she looked at the Huntress in earnest, attempting to speak.

"He-he…I…s…al….rite?" she coughed and spat a little.

"Yes he is, and looking for you non-stop." She turned to look and play with something out of Xochiyotl's vision.

"Here, you need to eat and drink something other than seawater." Again she sounded like she was laughing.

Helping the human sit up, the Huntress smiled and sat the bowl of soup in her lap. It smelled heavily of the favored yeasty meat of the Hunters. After a few bites, Xochiyotl had a few questions to ask, her voice was a little better and she figured she'd better ask while she could.

"Wh-what is…your…name?" she looked up sheepishly.

"Me? My name is Yao-tl." She smiled again. She seemed fond of smiling.

So her name meant Worrier. Xochiyotl nodded and took another bite of the soup. It seemed to fill her stomach a lot and her heart a little. She looked around the cave and took everything in. The fire was in the middle of the cave, with three others crowded around it. They seemed to be bandaged up and having fun. The pot they had been cooking in was still over the flames and bubbling its own brew. Weapons and armor were scattered around in piles and blankets lay everywhere. The place had its own homey style and feeling of comfort to it. She looked down to the now-empty bowl of soup. It was taken abruptly by Yao-tl, still smiling, and she got up and walked away whispering to herself. Xochiyotl's stomach was full, so she aptly refused a second helping, but felt her eyelids droop and let herself fall into a healing slumber.

_Morning of the 5th day of Hunting, Running along the Beaches of Mexico_

Cit'lal-I hissed and stopped for a moment. He looked around and saw nothing but sand and salty water on one side and a steep cliff on the other. Turning his head to the God beside him, he saw that Mixcoatl was crouched to the ground and inspecting something.

"_**You move too quickly to see.**_" And the God pointed to the crushed sand of a human's foot.

Cit'lal-i gazed around desperately. Sand lay in huge hills and deep holes in the ground bore evidence of a struggle. On the slight breeze, he could smell her blood. Panicking, he swung his head around and hissed angrily at anyone that would dare hurt his Xochiyotl! With a little laugh from the God, Cit'lal-i looked to the cliff face and used his helmet's vision to watch the recent heat changes of the rock. Little human hands and feet showed in orange and red at the Hunter nearly cried in joy. He was so close! With new determination in his heart, the Hunter dug his claws and feet in the rocky soil and began to climb.

Nothing tired him out when he was looking for the one he loved. His limbs and blood was singing by the time he reached the ledge at the top. Silently, Cit'lal-i wondered how Xochiyotl could have climbed it herself. As the God arrived on the ledge as well, he gasped and then laughed ragingly. When his body was done shaking and his noise had grown quiet, Mixcoatl smiled and turned to Cit'lal-i.

"_**Your Xochiyotl is very clever to have gotten up here. But it is what happened next that is amusing. Life is a waste of time.**_" And he shook his head.

For moments, Cit'lal-i wondered what he was talking about. Then, remembering that he was a God, the Hunter knew that Mixcoatl had been speaking of the past. The God could read the plants and animals of the area to piece together a story of the past. Growling and frowning, Cit'lal-i nearly roared to the God.

"Show me what you are talking about!"

When the God turned around and smiled, it was plainly shown not by his face but by his body language. He nodded and Cit'lal-i was thrown back in time.

He could see Xochiyotl turn to one of the slithering walls she was encased in and begin to dig. It took hours to get a hole in the sand big enough for her to fit through, but when she did, she smiled. The Dragon was asleep and ignoring her for now. Turning, she saw nothing but open beaches and rock cliffs for miles. Seemingly determined, the girl dug her bare heels and toes and hands in the rocks of the cliff and heaved her body into the air. What was left of her clothing was torn and ragged, blowing the sea breeze. With muscles developed from hours of hard work and living on farms for most of her life, it only took thirty minutes for her to reach the top where Cit'lal-i was standing. The Dragon still slept much like a snake would bathe in the sun. Sweat covered Xochiyotl's body, she was clearly dehydrated, and her face showed nothing but determination. She stood and just as she did, thunder boomed around the beach. As she heard the roar of the Dragon, she immediately smashed herself to the ground. Too late, the Dragon swung his massive paw at her and Cit'lal-i heard something break as she was thrown off her ledge. She hit the sandy beach on her back and writhed in pain, unable to breathe. And the vision faded with Cit'lal-i looking squarely at her face.

When the Hunter arrived back into his own mental state, his entire being felt as if it were on fire. He roared out of both agony and mental pain at watching his love get hurt. When he fell to his knees, Mixcoatl looked down at him without sympathy.

"_**The vision of God's is not made for mortal eyes. It took a toll on you to see what only the immortal are allowed. And it took a toll on my mortal body as well.**_"

When Cit'lal-i looked up, the candy-cane Hunter had removed his mask and was gasping deeply. He shook his head, dropped to his knees, and coughed deeply in his throat. Warm droplets of neon green blood splattered the ground in little globules. The Hunter looked upward after a few more coughs and met eyes with Cit'lal-i. He smiled a perfect Hunter smile and winked at the mortal male.

"_**I may be a God, but I have the body of a weak mortal Hunter.**_" He growled in good nature, more joking at himself than anyone else.

"Yeah, a weak, incredibly strong male in his damn prime." Cit'lal-i smiled and shook the fatigue out of his limbs.

A few moments later, the sky exploded. Clouds withered away as balls of fire rained down from heaven. A great beast followed them in a hurry, his blue scales shining in the midday sunlight. A storm erupted, lightning and thunder raining down on those below. Claws and fangs bared, the Dragon smashed against the ground, shattering rock and flaying sand. Cit'lal-i roared at the challenge and heard Mixcoatl do the same. In awe, Cit'lal-i forgot about the slithering hatred around him and focused only on Mixcoatl. As he drew out his Weeping Spear, the Hunter was smiling, mask still off, and baring his teeth. Cit'lal-i only hoped that he could do the same.

Brought back to the realm of the living, Cit'lal-i drew his own weapons and the Hunt began.

The Dragon was everywhere. His body seemed to encompass everything around Cit'lal-i, and therefore all the Hunter could do was slash. He began with the tail, whipping around and driving his blades deep into the slimy flesh and hearing the loud protest of the sky God. In an instant, the ground was layered in a pool of deep purple blood, the life of the Dragon. Brave Star whipped around and dug his teeth deep into the sand, missing the Candy-Cane Hunter by inches. The God of the Hunt smiled and whipped around with another roar of anger. His spear stuck firmly into the Dragon's snout and in another moment he was hefted up into the sky with it. Everything was chaotic, in the backgrounds of the fight thunder roared and lightning struck the sand, melting it into glass. The seas boiled over onto the beach attempting to drown any who were too near. And the Dragon roiled and shot into the sky, his body bleeding and cut, scales falling off of him in heaps. With another roar, he shook his head and hovered mid-sky, body rolling with the winds. Teeth snapped at the Candy-Cane Hunter, only missing him by inches. Below he could see Cit'lal-i, Bundled up in the Dragon's curled flesh and being crushed by the God's Fury. Just as he was about to shove a claw through Brave Star's eye, another kind of roar sounded. This one was a chorus of anger and one voice that was different from the rest. Unable to see the through the Dragon's large head, Mixcoatl only guessed that it could be the "help" Cit'lal-i had brought along.

And in another instant, the Dragon was slithering and roaring in desperation. He plunged through the sky, avoiding the ledge with the Hunters on it, and strait into the deep sea. Once inside, his wounds began to heal almost instantly. Mixcoatl recognized the sea as the Dragon's only refuge. He turned to the tail where Cit'lal-i was barely holding on and used what little of his Godly magic he had left.

You have to kill him now! Get him out of the sea!

But Cit'lal-i couldn't hear, even in his mind he was deaf. Every inch of him hurt and every wound stung from the salt. Thank the Gods and Goddesses above for the breathing gear on his armor! Though his mask, he could see the God and every slithering scale of the monster. And he knew that the wounds were healing. His grasp began to loosen and his eyes drooped a little in concentration, but he couldn't give up, he HAD to hold on.

He heard his mother. Oh how he had loved her so… "It isn't so much as what happens to us that matters as what we do with it."

With new determination, Cit'lal-i growled and held on tighter, until the Dragon was forced up to breathe. And when Cit'lal-i head came from under the waters, he heard the sweetest noise in all the worlds.

"Cit'lal-i!"

Xochiyotl was screaming and shouting from the shore. Cit'lal-i looked to her and for a moment, the world faded into a small dot. All there was her worried face and small little self. She was bandaged up in various places, but looked healthier than he expected her to. Her poor body was withered and beaten. Blood was stained in various places and her hair was a crumpled mess of obsidian locks. And she was the absolute best thing in his world, in anyone's world. But she was too close to the shore…

Before his very eyes, a wave snatched up his human love and threw her into the ocean. Roaring out of agony and anger, Cit'lal-i snapped his head back to the Dragon and began to climb. Every tendon and muscle in his limbs agreed with him and supplied the Hunter with ample strength despite his grave wounds. His claws dung heavily in the gorged flesh of the Sky god. Scales continued to fall from the Dragon as Cit'lal-i climbed and climbed, reaching Mixcoatl in a matter of minutes. The Candy-Cane god smiled and coughed a little. Neon blood spurted from his mouth and he gave a witty smile. His spear still firmly lodged in the Dragon's snout, the god gestured to Cit'lal-i to finish.

"_**I have no use for it right now. I will take it back when…" **_he coughed a little again. "_**I want to.**_"

The god winked a little and looked back to the Dragon, who was fighting ferociously to rid himself of his attackers. He looked back to his companion…

And he let go of the spear. Mixcoatl, God of the Hunt disappeared into the waves below, leaving behind his precious Weeping Spear and his only friend. Cit'lal-i allowed himself a gurgled protest and flung his hand out to catch the God. He cried a loud call of sadness and loss to the ocean below. A second later, he was drowned out by Brave Star. After hanging onto the holy weapon, Cit'lal-i focused again on the Dragon. In one last desperate move, Brave Star roared and turned his massive head to plead with the Hunter. He didn't want to die! As he opened his maw, something exploded and the pain only came a second later.

Cit'lal-i was a monster with nothing left in him but the urge to kill. His clawed hand dragged out what was left of the Dragon's eye and threw it into the sea. The blood and goo from the eye socket splashed onto his helmet, feeling his skin absorb the heavenly liquids. With a roar of agony, the Dragon collapsed into himself, falling toward the sand below. The enraged Hunter fell with him, mixed images flashing across his mind. When Cit'lal-i hit the ground, his world went black.

The fight was over. Brave Star lay in a crumpled heap on the sand, whimpering. His blood stained the shore and his scales continued to shed in the absence of power. Had his Goddesses forsaken him? Tears san from his one good eye and for a moment, he could see what he had been… and what he had become. If he had simply let them alone, the god would have lived. And the little human girl… she reminded him so much of his Flower Dancer. Her pink hide…

The Hunter stood again. How he could stand with his injuries, Brave Star did not know. Something was wrong with him.

Cit'lal-i was seeing red. His killing gland had exploded inside his body. And his blood was on fire. Growls and roars emerged from his throat randomly. And as soon as he found the giant slithering beast again, his fury returned. He flew at the Dragon with his claws barred and fangs clacking against the metal of his mask. In anger and in blind Hunting Glory, Cit'lal-i ripped his sealed mask from his face, leaving scratches from the sealing clips. He stood in a position in of fury and roared again in the Dragon's face.

Something was wrong with him. He knew, he could tell by the red tint to his heat vision and the roars from his mouth. His veins hurt, his limbs were on fire! And in his mind the same bloody images continued to explode past his sight.

_The vision of his baby brother, while hunting the Kainde Amedha on his first glorious hunt, dying at the hand of a Warrior class hard meat flashed. His mother and his father's fights and the bruises and blood splatters they would leave. And someone, he could not remember her name, with black hair and bright green eyes, beaten and bloodied by a Jaguar in the woods nearby somewhere._

_Again she was there, closer in his mind now, looking up at him through mottled hair and chains. And suddenly his mother ripped into the picture and she was… the blood was disgusting! The smell of her rotten flesh and the sight of what was once her face…_

He was losing himself, something was running farther and farther away from him and part of him, the part that was sensible and feeling, was screaming for help. But the other half, the Hunter, screamed louder for blood and hate and death. And that part seemed to be winning.


	14. Lost and Found

Chapter 13: Lost and Found

He was losing his sense of self; something was running farther and farther away from him. And part of him, the part that was sensible and feeling, was screaming for help. But the other half, the Hunter, screamed louder for blood and casualty. And that part seemed to be winning.

Blood was everywhere, like violent red paint splattered across a tranquil canvas. He had reached the Dragon in a matter of seconds…or was it minutes? Or hours even? Time had no meaning anymore. Nothing mattered but the blood that soaked his arms and face and the feeling of ultimate power.

He was the strongest! Voices sounded in the background, but he couldn't have cared less, unless they happened to turn into a threat, then he would be glad to pay attention. The Dragon's face was beautifully mortifying; bits of what used to be its nose were splattered across the sands. The creature's teeth were cracked and broken much like his own tooth, and the beast was whimpering and whining.

He could not find himself. And it was beautiful to be lost in this world; there was no sadness or fear. No love or hate or happiness or pain. It seemed like he was released from the world. There was simply a void that filled him up. And there was a voice; something that sounded oddly sinister but beautiful at the same time as it was beckoning him, driving him deeper into himself. He was lost among visions of bloody battles and murders that never were…

Yao-tl was aghast. She had seen Hunters become lost in their bloodlust, but this was different. He was ripping and clawing at the sand, obviously unaware of anyone or anything around him. His claws were broken, his armor torn and scattered and his face… it cautioned her. She looked at what had once been the Dragon. He seemed pitiful and an ache opened in her heart for him. No hunter should die that way, even on of another species, She turned to the two Hunters left of those that had come. They were beaten and battered as well, but the pose their bodies gave of was one of concern and caution. They were wary of Cit'lal-I as well. A loud roar turned her attentions back to the mortal Hunter. He was looking at the sky, eyes black and swollen, and shouting.

She cocked her head to the side, sensors in her ears perking for a sound hidden beneath the shouts. Desperation?

A sweet voice pierced his mind as a hot knife. It hurt, but the pain was a brief respite to the nothingness.

_**You don't realize it. But you like this nothingness. You have searched for it all your life.**_

"No!" he shouted at the black. He couldn't see. "I didn't want this!"

_**But you did! You hunkered behind your invisible wall like a coward! Forget these things you tried to hide! Forget everything!**_

"Go away! Leave me alone!"

_**But you created me, I am yours.**_

He couldn't shout again, whatever was in his mind took a hold on what little will he had left. Cupping his hands over his ears, Cit'lal-I closed his eyes and let the tears fall.

_**Lose yourself. **_

And he was drowned by nothing.

Yao-tl stared at what used to be Cit'lal-I for a few minutes after he stopped screaming. He lay there now, silent and crying like a pup during a nightmare. Shaking her head, the Huntress hissed in annoyance and switched gazes to the Dragon. He had long stopped breathing, but seemed to glow with every high-tide wave that hit his scaled body. He wasn't dead yet. And the human had been gone for a while. Yao -tl hadn't seen her since the Dragon had caused that large wave. But Yao-tl didn't think that the human was dead. This whole trip would be pointless if that female died! Damn her!

And the yautja female shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts and to clear her coming headache. She turned to the Hunters behind her, who had created a fire to warm themselves but never took one eye off Citlal-i. Yautja didn't much like the cold. Walking to the fire, the Huntress ran a hand through her dread-like hair and growled at the others to make a space for her.

"I have seen it before." The Hunters continued their conversation like she had never been there.

"They kill themselves from the inside."

"You're an idiot." Another one snorted. "Impossible!"

Yao -tl was no longer listening. She stared at the stars, wondering if there was a God up there that cared to help. They desperately needed guidance right now. A song came to mind, her mother's singing voice repeating in her head. The tune of the song moved solemnly up and down giving off a dark, shadowy echo. Much Yautja music did this. She smiled and added her voice to the noise on the beach.

"Heave the hollow silver sliver,

Piercing through another victim,

Turn and tremble,

So judgmental,

Ignorant to all the symbols,

Hide your face,

A deathly grace,

Your battles will soon decide,

Whether your flesh is a waste,

Or your name is full of pride."

It had not been one of the more happy songs her mother had sung, but then it was not meant to be. It was usually sung in the older days to send off younglings to their Blooding. The song had a hollow, dark sound to it and it induced feelings of hatred and depression among its listeners. But no one was listening now. Yao -tl looked to Cit'lal-i and glared angrily. This seemed to be the perfect place for the song, and it seemed that Cit'lal-i was the perfect person to sing it to. No wonder it had come into her mind. What a waste of him.

Nothing, there was no blackness nor hatred or feeling. Whether it was mental or otherwise, it was so agonizingly empty. There was something there though, a light that the nothingness was attempting to keep Cit'lal-I away from. He knew it was sweet and good and filled with memories, oh how he missed even those now! Let them come, good and bad! But the black thing was keeping him from it, he couldn't move!

_**You are mine, you are me!**_

Cit'lal-I stopped thinking. What? He belonged to no one but… and there it was again, that fleeting sweet memory of someone dear to his heart. "My love…"

_**You have no one!**_

"Liar, I have!" but he could not remember exactly who this person was. He needed help! He couldn't do this all alone!

_**You are alone.**_

"No."

_**Yes, they all left you, even her.**_

The nothingness gave him a fleeting memory of her thrown into a wave by the Dragon, and then his mother dead on the floor, his father's honored tomb, and his brother's dead mangled corpse and the acid running from it, three sisters burned to death by a loose Queen. His whole life he had been alone. No one had cared whether he lived or died. He was alone.

"No, don't leave me all alone!"

_Cit'lal-i_

A feminine voice cut into the nothingness with a warm feeling, one he could not place.

"Leave me be." It hurt too much to care anymore.

_You're not alone. I'm here…aren't I?_

And this time, Cit'lal-I looked up at the female astonished. He could not remember her too well, the nothingness was fighting her, but he knew she was important.

"I am not good enough to be with... people."

_You're good enough for me._

"Do not lend me a false hope."

_I love you Cit'lal-i. I love you just the way you are._

Something in her words made Cit'lal-i remember a cave and then a temple. He looked at her again and remembered who and what she was.

" Xochiyotl!"

The nothingness exploded into light the voice that had trapped him screamed and disappeared in the light of Xochiyotl and he remembered everything. Looking in a new, cherishing, light Cit'lal-I loved the good memories. All of those glorious hunts, or the time spent with this human girl. And all of the bad memories weren't rebuked, for they made up who he was. He watched the black memories flood with the white ones and they washed his mind clean of doubt and selflessness. He opened his eyes and realized what he had been…and what he had become.


	15. The End of the Sky

Chapter 14: End of the Sky

Perhaps he could redeem himself. There must be something he could do to earn his family back and his own place in the Sea Palace below the waves. He looked up at the Hunter he had schemed to kill. Why had he done so again? Revenge was hardly a reason to kill another living creature. Even after…

And that creature reminded him so much of himself that he had to move. His body was moving without him, a spell was over his entire self and something was crying in his heart, _Love._ As he dove into the ocean, nothing seemed to matter but saving one little human in a world of them, one little creature…

The sea burned his wounds and he knew now that he could not be saved. The sea only hurt those it would kill. Life for him would cease to exist and he would have to depart this world. But first… the human female.

She reminded him so much of his Dancing Flower. Her pink hide and bright beautiful purple eyes had been from heaven. And in their time, after they had mated and she had laid the most beautiful opal egg. She had not left its side for months and when it had hatched... He was the second most beautiful thing under the sun. The Goddesses had named him Sea Fire for his mane of fiery hair and scales of deep blue. Everyone had loved him. And everyone had loved Dancing Flower…

The waves of the ocean rocked back and forth violently. Sea foam was knocked back onto the beach, littering many small sea animals and plants up onto the sands. Xochiyotl was giving in to the memory of Cit'lal-I's voice. It was agonizingly beautiful! The numbness in her bones and limbs echoed the sounds of the waves and the cold had gone now. She could feel nothing and it was beautiful and frightening all at the same time.

_Yes, little human, go back to the sea, for she is the mother of all things._

Who was that? She recognized this voice; it sounded much like the ocean itself. The Eastern Goddess of the Sea!

_**Yes. Go back to the hole you came from wretch! **_

Now that voice she defiantly knew. The moon! Had she asked the Goddess of the Sea to help? Why would she do so? What had Xochiyotl done? The nothingness was still there, hand-in-hand with the numbness she felt in her body. She was drifting away. Her body screamed for air and her limbs felt heavy as lead. She breathed in deeply despite her mind screaming not to. Water filled her lungs and her blood pulsed heavily in her veins. Still despite her body's torment, she didn't feel a thing. This was such a peaceful death, so unlike the torture of life. Why live if it was so easy to die? What was the reason?

She could feel something rough and hard and warm. Teeth dragged her from her peace as a knife would cut a rope. She broke the waves and the hatred of the air came to her, swiping her memories from her eyes and replacing them with the bright of her eyelids. She could hear an angel's voice, the sound so pure it broke her heart.

"Don't leave me all alone again!" it shouted.

She wanted to speak, to tell it that she was okay and that she liked where she had been. But she could not find her mouth and her throat was still. Something splashed her face. Why was the angel crying?

"Xochiyotl don't leave me, breathe!"

Something pounded on her chest, it felt as if bones were breaking and her lungs still did not move. She didn't like this, it hurt! Something still dragged her as she hung on to the moments of only before and attempted to go back to that place.

"Don't you go away!" the angel shouted again.

And then she could feel again, something covered her mouth, spongy and silky soft but toothy and warm. It breathed the life back into her.

Cit'lal-i couldn't think of anything left to do. As soon as the dragon had pulled her out of the water, he had snatched her from its teeth and began to beat the life back into her. Her skin was so cold and hard, like ice. But everything he had just fought himself for was at jeopardy if she died. That nothingness would return. He would lose himself again! She had saved him from himself and now he had to save her. It was his selfishness that wanted her alive, no matter the toile on her. He was, after all, just a Hunter. And when he opened her eyes he saw that they were gone, the spark was only barely lit. So he had continued to beat at her until he knew that a rib was broken. Putting his ear to her chest, there was a resounding silence and he knew. She was gone. With no heartbeat there was nothing in her left to keep beating, to convince her body to keep working. He prayed to the Hunter God to give her back. She had died on a Hunt and therefore she would go to the temple of the Hunter god. After his prayer, he knew of only one other thing he could do to make her live.

"Don't you go away!" he shouted.

And he covered her mouth with his. She was too salty and her lips were disgustingly dry, but he continued anyway. He had to be extra careful of his mandibles and the sharp teeth that protruded from them as well as his teeth he used for biting. This was not how he had imagined their first kiss. Was it really as kiss? The first breath he shoved in her lungs was small, but he saw her lungs rise a little and could tell the water was disturbed. The second caused her to cough up a little. And the third got her. He yanked his head away just in time for her to spew forth seawater and blood from her lungs. Tears ran from her eyes as the spark of life lit again and water poured from her mouth. Using a shaking hand, he sat her upright and supported all of her weight with his arm while he used the other to push on her stomach. Was she really back from the dead? Something sticky stuck to him and for a moment he thought that the Hunter God was back from the waves.

_I gave you her. Now give me what I want. Give me a victory! _The voice of the Hunter God was loud in his head.

She was still coughing up blood and water but between those coughs and hacks, she began to breathe again. The sound of her inhaling and even the sound of her life was the most comforting thing Cit'lal-i had heard. And something else cut into that beautiful sound, a sort of raspy breathing. The echo of the Hunter God's last words rang in Cit'lal-i's brain. Something to his right clanked on the sand and as he looked he remembered the form of the God sinking into the waves. Looking to his right, he saw the glinting form of the weeping spear. It was beautiful and frightening all at the same time. Silently, ignoring the frightened cries of the Hunters and Xochiyotl, Cit'lal-i stood with the spear in his hand and looked to what remained of the Dragon. His scales were dim and his eye was even dimmer. Cit'lal-i looked to the spear and then him again.

"Do it Hunter. I do not want to live."

"You were the one. I got her and the worm and you got away." Cit'lal-i looked at him again with only slight anger.

"My Dancing Flower." He paused with a choked sob. "Yes. You killed my mate…and my son."

That stumped Cit'lal-i. All this time he had thought that it had been something else. He had not cared and had not given it thought. But now, with a prospective mate of his own, he knew how helpless he had been when she had been hurt and taken. He regretted his hunt for the first time in his life.

"Are their heads on you wall, Hunter?" The Dragon was fading, his voice growing raspier by the second.

"Yes. Both of them, at the top of my wall. They were my pride." His voice was full of regret.

"They WERE your pride? Do you not enjoy having killed them now?" Brave Star hissed.

"No, I regret it. I would not do it now if I had known." Cit'lal-i shook his head and tapped the spear against his temple.

"You hunters never take the time to find out. Honor the life you have taken, and love the ones you have spared."

"The ones I spared? I never spare a kill."

"You spared the green eyed one and now you love her. Do you not?" he sounded like he was laughing.

"I…did. And..."Cit'lal-i was hesitant.

"But your wall is full of other hunters who loved."

"Probably. I didn't care to find out if they had mates or pups." Cit'lal-i frowned.

"Then add my head to it." Brave Star was quickly fading.

"What?" that caught him off guard.

"Add my head to your wall and be proud. You killed a son of the Goddess of the Sea and you killed one who loved as well. I want to hang on your wall with my family. Let me go." His eyes closed now.

There was a silence only broken by Xochiyotl's soft sobs and coughs. Brave Star could already see his Dancing Flower and Sea Fire coming to greet him at the gates of the sea palace. He had one more thing to say.

"Xochiyotl! In my heart there is a stone. Take it when I am dead and use it well! You will know what to do with it." And he relaxed as he waited for the white dragon of death to guide him.

Without saying anything else Cit'lal-i raised the spear above his head and closed his eyes. A feeling came over him much like at a normal Hunt.

_This is what hunting was supposed to be like. This is what I created. _The voice of the Hunter God echoed in his mind. _Knowing what you're hunting and still hunting it. Taking the life of a creature, not just a thing._

With a hard thrust to the neck, Cit'lal-i ended the life of a God of the Sky. The slushy wet sound that ensued was horrible and beautiful at the same time. He watched the life quickly fade from Brave Star's eyes silently until another achingly beautiful sound reached his ears.

"Cit'lal-i?" it was a cry of peace. Something like being at the end of the rainbow.

The God of the Sky's body faded into the sand, becoming numerous sea creatures as It was swept away by the current. Only something remained a large heart and a ghastly skeleton looking very much like a snake. The innards were still there, and amongst them shone the Dragon's heart.

Citlal-I turned away from the beast and toward the small human. His small human. She was shaking, cold, and most pale but her eyes shone green as they could be. He cocked his head and started toward her. Yao-tl stood from her place next to the female. In a way she could have considered herself jealous, the affection shining from this Hunter for this human was far too much. Almost unnatural. She had a mate of her own, but their relationship was far different. They could learn from these ill-fated creatures. Many mates could.

Cit'lal-I reached her and enveloped her, taking care to lift her gently from the corrupted sands. He didn't say anything, looking at her, at her wounds, the soon-to-be infection that would almost certainly follow them, and the depth of her eyes. She hadn't seen him lose himself, but she knew. Just looking at her he could tell she knew everything. And somehow he was ashamed. She smiled a little and turned away, her cheeks rosy with embarrassment.

"Let us return. I have another hunt soon." Yao-tl hissed harshly and turned on her heel. The other two Hunters got up to leave, dismissing the fire and logs of their small inefficient camp.

Cit'lal-I looked at them one by one, standing tall as he could. He looked to the girl, his girl, and watched her close her eyes and breathe evenly. Yes, let's go home, he smiled.


	16. Flipping a Coin

Chapter 15: Flipping a Coin

The room seemed warmer than it had been when he left, despite the massive gaping hole in the wall. Rubble was removed and everything looked as clean and….ragged around the edges as it could. The cloth and things he had acquired over years were ruined by the weather. The silk on the bed could have looked better. But it was home and here he…rather she… was safe. What was alarming…was the mother ship hovering above the city. Not only did it give the entire province a shadow, but the lights on it (made to give off heat and not light) were glowing red. A sign of some problem or calamity. He shook his head and attempted to forget the ship. No one had come to tell him to leave or to growl at him for missing many days of guard duty. So it was obviously none of his concern. He looked at Xochiyotl again and watched her attempt to clean up some dust on the bed sheets. She was pale and still somewhat sick from her wounds. He shook his head and walked out onto the ruined side of a building. Something still addled his skin and made his dread-locks curl. Something was wrong.

The city market was normal, well, rather as normal as one could get on a night like this one. It made him feel normal too. The sun was setting and people were making last minute deals. Children ran around dirty and annoying. But as the shadows became larger things grew silent and the Aztecs ran for the safety of their houses. They did not want to be stolen in the crossroads of the night. The spot he guarded from on the temple was barren, his form missing among the shadows. The sound of his weapons clacked against his armor and his sandals made indentions in the hard dirt. The people were no different than when he had left. Everything was…unchanging. In a way Cit'lal-I loved this perpetual life, and in some his new heart, the one that had sprung to life after saving Xochyotl, hated that he was the only thing changed. This life, the one he had lived for far too long, was no longer familiar. And as the hunter walked among the humans and the other of his kind he was…bitter. Cit'lal-I shook his head and cleared his thoughts. First he had to bathe and then he must find someone to heal his wounds as well as those of his little Xochyotl. Hers were more pressing. But as of now the scent boiling off of his skin was repulsive. He shifted his walk toward the hot springs at the end of the city and to the Temples of the Waters that watched over them. The temples were pristine and clean and everything had to do with the liquid of life. Cit'lal-I let a human male lead him to a solitary pool and it dropped cleaning supplies at the base before bowing and nearly running away. The Hunter shook his head and annoyance and began to dishcloth his armor. The water was soothing to his skin and he cleaned vigorously. His cuts oozed gross liquid and greened at his touch. The blood was fighting something… When his skin was nearly aching the hunter poured on Papaya Oil to hydrate and doused his hair in it. The poor dreadlocks were nearly rigid with lack of water. As the hunter "brushed" his fangs with soap leaves he looked to the roof of the room he was in. The sky's likeness had been carved into the dome ceiling and the constellations that were important to the Aztecs were emphasized with odd moss. The hunter relaxed into the waters and watched the steam swirl around him and every motion he made. What would he give to bathe like this with Xochyotl? To hunt for her? To really _live_ with her? He couldn't think of something he would not give…

_Honor._

The voice of the Hunter God resounded in Cit'lal-I's head. The Amini frowned. Was the God watching him always? Awkward. True, he could not give up his honor for such a thing as love. It would be a disgrace to the entire race. Wouldn't it? The male growled at himself for his situation and stood from the waters.

Cit'lal-I hissed a little as he walked alone through the streets. More flowers, more greenery came into view as he came upon his destination. The temple he stopped at was covered in flowers and soil. The Temple of Life smelt too sweet and musty for his liking but then again it was the opposite of his station and those Amini who served it were mostly women and elderly those who were still formidable but would rather defend life than take it. The exact reason for his visit. He walked the stairs with a heaviness that hurt his shoulders and legs. He was tired, much as he hated to admit it. The trek back to the city was longer with the skull of a Dragon and a wounded girl with him than he would have liked. He hoped he wouldn't have to do that again. The last step of this dread Temple seemed three stories tall. The climb was meant to teach the traveler that life was hard but the payoff at the top was worth it. Promoting life was ridiculous, Cit'lal-I thought. As he stopped to look at the vines and flowers that should not have been able to grow on the rock he watched baby birds flutter in a nest of twigs and flower buds. There were too many patron Goddesses for this temple to count. He shook his head and stepped heavily through the drapery of silk that served as a front door. The hall within was airy and spacious. More flowers. Cit'lal-I snuffled and watched as three females approached him.

"Why here so early? Mating season does not start for seven more days." The first was a purple female with black spots on her. She would have been beautiful had her hair not been shorn short.

"He is not come for mating stupid." Another, obviously her sister for her color and markings were the same, shouted. Her eyes were yellow.

"Silence yourself! He will not you!" the first hissed.

"Me over you any day!" the second swung a claw.

"You two silence. He is not come for mating at all. What is it you desire? I smell infection on you." The third was the tallest and most obviously the oldest. She hung flowers from her dreadlocks, which almost touched the ground. Her skin was almost too pale.

"I come for a… slave of mine own." Cit'lal-I was almost uncomfortable admitting it.

"Sick is it? We will heal it tell me its ailments." The third smiled kindly.

"The infection on me is hers." Cit'lal-I offered his arm for her to scent better.

"No, this infection I smell is yours, although you have tried of cleanse yourself of it. were it so easy… She must be worse. Cit'lal-I is your calling yes? We know of your feats with the God of the Sky." The third, the eldest, reared back and covered her mouth with a large sleeve.

"How?" Cit'lal-I hissed.

"Hard to miss the hole in the Temple of Death." The eldest smiled balefully. "I am sister to Yao-tl. She who accompanied you." She added.

"Oh. Then you understand my…problem." Cit'lal-I felt a blush coming on, one of embarrassment.

"Your one of many, yes. Bring her at first light and we will heal her… and you as well Amini." the eldest female began to push herself away from him. Healers had a particular sense of smell.

"Very well. And…mating season soon?" Cit'lal-I cocked his head.

"Your emotions are not affected?" the first girl giggled. She was most obviously a virgin.

"They are….I did not make the connection of it." Cit'lal-I ignored her looks of longing.

"Curious." The second female frowned. She shrugged and turned to follow the eldest out.

Cit'lal-I turned abruptly and began to walk away. The steps would be much easier when he went down and his aching body would love it. The air outside was almost too fresh. The moon was only half full right now, something that was interesting to him now that he knew she really was a goddess. He lost himself among the stars and shook his head to clear the mugginess. How could he have forgotten mating season? That would explain the way Yoa-tl had looked at him on the way back to the city. She could have shot ice spikes from her eyes. He shook his head. He would have to distance himself from Xochyotl very soon or he might lose control. Or worse, she might let him. The Hunter stared up at the night sky, wondering how he had managed to get himself in a situation like this one. How could he shove her away and explain to her that it was for her own good? He shook his head and walked down the steps, hoping something might come to mind.

The room was drafty to say the least. The bed was messed up and everything was…in order? Cit'lal-I looked to the chair that had been thrown aside in the Dragon attack. There it sat and in in curled up was the little woman. Cit'lal-I growled. He hissed a little and walked to pick her up. She was slight, skinnier after this whole ordeal than she had been. Perhaps more fragile too? The Hunter sighed and lifted her to the bed, or what was left of it. He covered her and looked out the hole in the wall, or rather the hole that took the wall. How could he explain? How could he reject her even after everything she had done to save his soul? The Hunter watched the moon play overhead and even as the sun began to chase her away. May be he would go on a hunt? No…because bottling up the lust that came with a mating season would not bode well when he returned. What could he do? She shifted in the bed, her hair stirring her scent and her cheeks giving a sunken glow. She looked too weak. He couldn't have her if he wanted, he'd snap her in half. The intensity would be…too much. Something moved to the left of him and Cit'lal-I whipped around to face the Weeping Spear nestled against the wall. It gave an eerie glow and shifted enough to snap to the ground.

_Tlen tlanequiliztli mochihua, tlanequiliztli moyetztica. _what will be, will be.

The voice that sang in his mind was inviting and warm. Not the Hunter God's words indeed. Cit'lal-I took that as a sign to simply shut up and quit complaining. He frowned and turned to Xochyotl again, her sleeping form giving him some comfort.

When she awoke she was nestled up against the back of something very warm. As the scaly skin came into focus she had to resist jumping up to bow. Instead she didn't move and her aching gouges and cuts thanked her for her mercy. The musky smell of him was all over her and for some reason she didn't mind washing herself in it. Just as she was about to fall asleep again something rattled against the floor of the room. She started, jumping up and crying out at the inflicted wounds. Grumbling the girl climbed over the bed toward the edge. The Weeping Spear lay on the ground giving a faint glow. She frowned at it and gasped when she felt the bed stir. Whirling around she gasped again at the close proximity to the Hunter. He stared right at her with his blue orbs, startling her into staring back. They were close, nearly touching faces and yet… something felt right about it. She smiled, snapping him out of his odd stupor and he backed up. Looking down like he was she gasped at the pool of blood forming on the bed. It was staining the sheets! Xochyotl jumped up and hit the ground hard, letting out a mushy squish with her. She shivered in pain and grasped her leg, where the most problematic wound lay. The blood coated her hands as she fought to keep both her composure and to keep the male rushing toward her away.

"One can achieve disease from thing! Stay away!"

"Not my kind Xochyotl. You must see the priestesses I have arranged for. Let me deliver you there."

"Carry me? I cannot allow that! You are an Amini to touch me is to…." Her voice faded away.

"I will if you like it or not." And he scooped her up as quickly as he could and rushed for the door.

The people hardly glanced at the pair as Cit'lal-I rushed and left a trail of blood in his wake. Xochyotl had stopped struggling and was looking paler than normal. He shook his head and began to bound up the stairs, ignoring comments from other hunters and priests and people alike. When he reached the top step the Hunter dropped to his knees and Xochyotl hit the ground with a thump. He heaved in breaths as he moved toward her. A few inches from her body a hand shot out to lift her. The clothing gave the person away and Cit'lal-I let the priestess of his species lift the human in her arms. He stood, still huffing, and was surprised. Had she been this tall last night? She towered over him but the scent was not the same…

"You are out of shape to let this staircase overcome you." The voice was too familiar and the cloth hiding her face blew aside in the wind.

"You are priestess Toa-tl?!" Cit'lal-I gasped.

"What did you expect? I am Worrier-Priestess to this clan. My elder….much elder sister spoke with you last night I assume? She was waiting for you by the baths. Come, this one's bleeding too heavily and we will have to stunt it before we can stitch her." Toa-tl frowned and carried away the girl, his girl.

Cit'lal-I sighed and shook his head. He couldn't have imagined. There weren't that many Worrier-Priestess left in their species. It was much too hard to learn both trades. Cit'lal-I grumbled and followed the over-dressed priestess into the temple hoping something would stop the bleeding. He watched, as he walked, humans rush to clear the blood from their temple. The scrubbed and cleaned and followed Toa-tl as she walked toward the baths and her elder sister waiting. The staircases spiraled and wound until something like a hot spring came into view. There were plants even down here and if not for his heat-like vision he would not have been able to see through the fog.

"Humans cannot come down here, the fog is too thick and the fumes from the salt baths too much for their fragile lungs. However, it would do this one some benefit from her trip in the ocean and her wounds will heal much nicer down in these depths." Toa-tl frowned at the girl and gave her to the elder sister.

"This one fought a Dragon and lived? Interesting, someone must be looking out for her above our world." The Elder sister watched with a critical eye. She turned parts of the human's body this way and that, eyeing the flesh wounds and frowning at the cuts.

"There are too many bruises, what did you do throw her against, a mountain?" the Elder growled.

"Well….dragon should explain it well enough."

"You are…an idiot." Yao-tl frowned.

The two sisters conversed in whispered tones, pointing and prodding for a few moments before Xochyotl began to grumble. The elder then began to remove the human's tattered clothing with scrutiny.

"Turn you head lecher." Toa-tl hissed.

Cit'lal-I's eyes opened and he gave a grunt, but spun on his heel. He could hear the sloshing of water and the sigh of contentment.

"The blood is stopping" Toa-tl said after a few moments. "She will heal. I must return to the surface for sewing supplies and poultices. You would do well to attend me."

"I wish to-" Cit'lal-I began. The look he received from the two women gave him the chills. "Very well" he sighed.

The stairs took much less time to climb; he figured it was an odd way of illusion. Before he could count the minutes they were at the top again. The room she led him to smelt of acid and rotting plants. He covered his nose with his arm and hissed.

"Relax you will live. The scent is not that overbearing."

"Says one whom lives in It." his remark was quick and muffled.

There was a silence between them that he knew was caused by the upcoming mating season. He narrowed his eyes and clacked his mandibles together. Females were frustrating, why wouldn't they just get to the point?

"Have you given any thought to it?" Toa-tl broke the silence with a whisper.

"What?" Cit'lal-I was surprised by her question.

"You are not that dense." She frowned at him. "are you?"

"Yes I have. My…decision will be based on hers." Cit'lal-I stood with shoulders squared in honor.

"And you hope for the worst outcome." Toa-tl sighed.

"Indeed. The worst." He cocked his eyebrows.

"And if she carries? They will-" she turned toward him fully.

"Silence." Cit'lal-I cut her off with a growl that was too threatening for mere conversation.

Toa-tl frowned at his resolve. This would end badly. She shook her head and frowned deeper. With potions in hand she shoved past the smaller male and began a brisk walk down the stairs once more.

Cit'lal-I barely noticed the clacking of his metal sandals against the stone steps. He didn't hear the praises of the Amini aimed at him as he walked downward. He didn't notice the hisses from Toa-tl. His mind was all for Xochyotl, the flowers that she reminded him of, and the scent of fresh soil and laughter that came from her. Her voice…

How could he do this? He had given up, a while ago, on resisting her. Now it was a different thing he was aiming for, looking at the other side of the coin. Make her love me. And he kept praying to whatever God or Goddess would listen and oblige.


	17. Talk is Overrated

Ch 16: Talk is Overrated

The seventh heaven

"Well this seems to be a good approach to things." Ixtlilton frowned at the black slab called the obsidian Rock.

"What approach?"

"One of carelessness."

"Staying the hell out of it is what this is called."

"But are we not going to warn the poor creatures?"

"The mother ship should be warning enough."

"They are healing from their last…thwarting."

"This has become a challenge indeed… I like it."

"Just like our demigod to give us a real challenge."

"Yes."

"Those damn Japanese Goddeses. Their Dragons are annoying."

"I wonder who could have dealt with them."

"The moon is vain." Xochiquetzal, Goddess of Beauty, shook her head.

"You think she is the traitor?" Metzli frowned.

"She claims everything for nothing. What shall we do about her?"

"Nothing. She will kill herself off soon."

"Then we will be left to choose a new moon." Macuilxochitl, Queen of the Dead, was almost smiling.

"Let that time come when it must. For now…the rising threat to this entire civilization is bearing down on the people and they know virtually nothing of it." Mictlantecuhtle, Lord of the Dead, waved a hand at his wife. She hissed.

"Should we send a sign?"

"No." Quetzalcoatl, God of Knowledge, sighed.

"Yes." Paynal, messenger god to the Sun, smiled. Any chance to go to the world below.

"What?" Meztli's eyes grew larger.

"Idiots." Ixtliltonalmost laughed. "you never know what you want."

The gods circled the stone again, this time to stay here for days. They had been arguing, thinking, and devising ways to achieve their goal. Goal? To change the fate of an empire with…Love. Make the great City last longer and connect the world in the future. Now they were working against the Moon Goddess and her cohorts the Japanese Goddesses. They worked against Fate and her sisters. And now they were out of ideas. The time was passing and they had no idea what to do.

"Why can't we kill the Moon?

"The world would be destroyed idiot"

"Should we send that little star to be the moon? Nelli I believe was her name?"

"No. we cannot. She is…returned to her former life."

"Yes we cannot destroy her heart again. So…"

"I almost for thoughts."

"we as well. But this new distraction….this Queen thing….is going to be a problem."

"that damn moon…"

"can we be sure it was her?"

"not the Egyptian Gods or the Japanese?"

"no they would simply do something cataclysmic as is the Egyptian way. Plagues and disease and such. And the Japanese would send their Underwater Palace. It is the way of the moon lately to do these things."

"so we will…."

"I've no clue."

"Me either."

"Mayahuel said to make love change the world. We may not be able to save the lovers but it was the course of an empire she wanted saved."

"So we save an empire by…killing the creature."

"A girl with the power of influence and a Hunter with the Weeping Spear."

"Oh…I see."


	18. Innocence is Bliss

Chapter 17: Innocence is Bliss

Mayahuel had passed out sometime between being carried by her Hunter Lord and laying in a tub of awful smelling liquid. She was nude, something she didn't like, and there were voices hushed and angry. Something was right and wrong at the same time. She couldn't open her eyes and her limbs didn't want to move, but she knew she was safe at the moment. A familiar voice told her that.

"What is she doing sleeping so long?"

"Yao-tl the fumes down here make humans sleepy. Be patient as your Priestess side tells you to be." An unfamiliar voice chastised.

"She is so weak. So frail. How could he choose her to…mate with." Tao-tl, the one who had helped save her, sounded annoyed. "He could have chosen someone better don't you think?"

"One cannot choose who their heart decides on. That is why we have God's in the first place. They decide things, we decide how to react to them." The older voice seemed to smile.

"I am not having a pleasing reaction. I wish to go meditate. May i?"

"Have I ever stopped you from such? Very rare for a Yautja to wish to meditate. We are not born with the patients for such."

"I will anyway. It will….calm me." And the shuffling of feet disappeared slowly.

Xochyotl frowned and popped open an eye. It was difficult beyond imagine to do such a thing but she had to know. She was…more than curious. Mate? What was that? Why did it anger Yoa-tl so? And what had the older female meant by saying 'the heart cannot choose'? She had to know.

"Aah. I knew you were awake." The kindly old voice was approaching through the fog. "And she calls you weak."

Xochyotl closed her eye and focused on lifting her head above the rim of the large tub. She could do it if she really wanted to! Her limbs protested but gave way to her will and the nude girl sat up in the water, feeling better the moment she cleared the surface of the liquid. She shook her long hair, which stuck to her skin and made her feel claustrophobic. When she opened her eyes she met a pair of very motherly ones.

"Girl. Your name? How do you feel?" the eyes spoke to her.

"Mohuelmati. In canin?" _I feel fine. Where am i?_

"Ahh you speak Nahuati. I see. I shall too then." The eyes spoke again.

The switch in the large female Messenger's voice was almost painful. She went from a very elegant version of Xochyotl's language to the crude and throaty Nahuati. Xochyotl was a little surprised that she knew both versions of the language but decided that this person would not have been a Messenger of the Gods had she not. Xochyotl shook her head to clear the mugginess from it.

"This place will speed the healing of your wounds. Your Lord is across the room. The fog will keep you from seeing each other….nude." the large female knelt by the tub. She stirred the water with her hands and shook the liquid from them. Xochyotl frowned and looked through the fog, scanning for the massive form she knew all too well. She shook her head, seeing nothing, and parted her sticky hair from her shoulders. When she saw her legs, the teen nearly gasped. Where tanned skin and traces of voluptuousness had been only grey skin, gouges, and bone remained. Her stomach was small, nearly bony, and everything seemed to be terrible on her. She was hideous! Frantically staring and looking at herself, attempting to use hair to cover herself in humility, she was a sight of sadness. When she heard the small giggle and a sigh the girl, nearly hysterical in her grief over her body, looked up with teary eyes.

"We will fix you, human child. We will fix this."

"Is it possible? How could he have…been seen with me? In public? I am a slave but I was…more than this." The human girl looked down at her tattered body.

"More than this? Your body may be battered but your spirit almost shines…perhaps it is stubbornness." The motherly female stood and cocked her eyes.

"My…what?" Xochyotl formed.

"Perhaps that is why he likes you so." The female looked away.

"Likes me…what? Spirit? I am-"

"Confused? Perhaps you will be more so when he begins to act…strangely." the female laughed.

Xochyotl frowned at the female, confused in her innocence. Something felt different and strange, unwelcoming. The plants, the liquid, the fog, this place was far too unfamiliar for her to feel healed. The human girl stood and shook her body to free herself from the liquid's spell. Her nakedness shamed her, but in the presence of another Messenger female it shamed her less than it should have. She looked to the older female for guidance as to what to do next, standing there awkwardly.

The robe draped around her was modest, and shrouded her frame in more than three layers of clothing. She was then snatched up by the much stronger older woman and carried up more flights of stairs than she could count. The air up here was moist and fresh and full of water, the liquid of life. Xochyotl frowned as her legs dangled painfully and she was dropped on a pillowed bed in the main healing hall. There were assortments of Amini here, some worriers others obviously not so, and humans infested the place as workers. Xochyotl attempted to ignore the stares she received and looked instead to the painful cut on her leg as it was being bandaged. She twitched but otherwise kept her leg in place and her mouth shut firmly.

"You have stout tongue. None could really keep quiet like this, child." The elder female smiled in her own way. Xochyotl kept silent to keep from screaming. When the bandages on her body were secure and white, and her clothing was in firm place, the female stood to leave. Xochytol slammed herself to the ground, bowing as elegantly and professionally as she could manage.

"Please! Tell me what is….ease my confusion." She spoke to the ground.

"Child. What is there to be confused about?"

"I need….answers. Why did he bring me? What did you mean by acting strangely? Why are you healing me? Where is he?" Xochyotl rambled while the female sat on the bench next to her and looked toward the plants in a corner of the room. She thought for a painstaking moment then answered, still looking away.

"This creature, your Amini, has decided in himself that you mean more to him than a mere slave. He sees something in you worth saving, worth seeking. He will begin to act strangely because our mating season…" the female yautja looked to the young woman.

"Mating? Is that like marriage?"

"Hardly. We do not simply bear the children of one male in our lives but of many. It is our season for…making children."

"Oh…I see. So it is a season to bear heirs?"

"Yes. It is coming soon and the males pick their females and females pick their males. Therefore, the males of the kingdom will be very nearly unable to control themselves. Your Amini will act strangely."

"But he must pick a female! One of high standing for himself no?"

"He has decided already."

"He…has? Whom has he picked? Is she gorgeous or strong? Perhaps both?"

"Oh little one you will see." The old female smiled warmly.

Cit'lal-I could have lingered in those healing waters for generations. He stared into the nothing ness, thinking only of the images that floated aimlessly across his mind. In the distance he could hear sloshing, cleaning sounds from things he did not know of nor care about. Something below his waist stirred but he squished the notion quickly. He could not lose himself so easily, it would shame his honor as a hunter. Ci'lal-I shook his dreadlocks and hissed through his mandibles. The hunter lifted a finger and scratched his mandibles thoughtfully. How could he get close to her without harming her fragile skin? How could he be…intimate with her without killing her? The hunter shook his head and sank further into the bank. First, he had to make sure she didn't remember their first intimate encounter. His…purity check wasn't exactly the best thing for both of them. The hunter shuddered despite the warm waters. He had to make her forget, yes that was the first thing to do.


	19. The Price of Humanity

So here I am, writing this and kind of taking it a direction I had not intended it to go. But I am still writing it. So I want Your reviews. Tell me what is good, what is awesome, and how YOU would like the story to go from here!

* * *

She could've gone without being exposed to the masses around her. The plants waved cheerily in the winds, the moistness of the air soaking her and making her feel as wet as she had been in the baths. The wounds ached but she silently bid them to leave her be. And thoughts waged war in her mind. So many questions and no one to answer them! What had the female meant by saying 'she would know' and that he 'has already chosen'? Would she be permitted to meet this female? Would she be allowed to see her? Or the child that would result from such union? A pang of jealousy shot her stomach and Xochyotl frowned at her idiocy. She could not be his choice, that would be more than dishonorable for him wouldn't it? Not to mention her King and the Queen of his peoples would never allow such a thing. But nonetheless she could not get the knowing jealousy to subside. She would resign herself to the fate of a slave though. He had done much for her since her rescue. Too much for her to ask for even a smite more. The white sheets betrayed her purity. She was not pure, now that she had thought of it. He had touched her already, and he deserved a pure woman didn't he? Pure as the white flowers surrounding this temple. She had been touched…wrongly and with false accusations, but she had been touched nonetheless. She was no longer pure. The girl shook her mind of despair that crept like vines to her heart and focused on the thought of a child from Cit'lal-I. What a sight it would be to see.

The hunter, the Amini, had decided his fate, his choice. He would fight for her heart, make her forget past aggressions, and teach her to love him. The way he had come to care for her. His armor clacked into place, shifting into more natural positions as the Amini, the hunter, strode the steps of the temple of healing. He would charm her the way humans charmed their mates. Wait…how was that again? He had never cared to look toward human rituals or mating procedures. And he knew from the odd "marriage" ceremonies they held that it was not always the woman's choice as well. He had to find someone who knew…and would not castrate him for his choice. The hunter shook his head as he mentally listed every human male or female he knew. The list was painfully short. He growled to himself, sending a few human workers in his wake fleeing. Stomping past the main hall, oblivious to his surroundings and to the young girl watching him leave, the hunter stopped at the topmost step of the temple of healing. He had none, no one to guide him in his little quest for love and life. He had a hidden path before his feet and a little girl waiting for him on the other end of it. He would have to slip, to stumble and fall until he reached the end. Until he reached her.

Wait! There was one, one person. He had wronged her, taken her only way of lively hood (that was honorable) and she might hate him for everything…but she was a chance. She could help. The mother. Xochyotl's mother. And sister wasn't it? Perhaps she could help too. He would go there, to the mud ridden grass fields of peasantry.

The grass was shorter than he remembered; the mud huts were more root-ridden. The people looked scared at his sight; they looked more than worried at his presence. Had he forgotten what he was? An Amini, a Hunter God. He ruled these people, they were his toys. He hunted them, these pathetic creatures. The mud hut in front of him, one of the most run-down but clean in the village, was supposedly the family of Xochyotl. It was clean, though looked as if it were made of dung. And the smell coming from the walls was terrible. The hunter god shook his head and grumbled before lifting the flap that served as a door. The sight that greeted him was more than gruesome.

A woman laid, the sheets of grass beneath her soaked in juices. Blood seeped between her legs and something was coming out. Another woman, much older and worn-out looking, was holding a cloth between the younger's legs and wiping what she could up. The Amini growled his disgust at human reproduction and stopped himself abruptly. Wasn't this what he was trying to accomplish? This horrid scene was the birthing of another human. Wouldn't his Xochyotl give birth this way? The hunter, armed with this train of thought, burst forward from the door and toward the women. Screams followed and shock glazed the eyes of the women present. The hunter, Cit'lal-I, sat down by the birthing woman and did what he knew to do for bleeding creatures. The kit at his back would stem the bleeding, but as for the young one coming from the girl, he didn't know what to do. The old one seemed to know what she was doing though…he hoped that helping them would earn something in return.

"Amini, why come to this hovel? Childbearing cannot call one of your status." The Old one frowned at the small child that ley still in its mother's arms.

The woman, silent now after her pained cries, cradled the blue child in her arms. It was still, hadn't moved even for the efforts of Cit'lal-I and the old woman. Many other women, whom had been present to help at the time, were gone now. Only Cit'lal-I, the old woman, and the young mother remained. The hunter, mask still on, stayed silent for a moment.

"I come for myself." Cit'lal-I growled "care not for the pains of human children."

"So it is. You come for selfish reasons? If the Amini can be called selfish." The old woman smiled

"Brazen human. U dare talk this way? Do you not fear my blade?"

"Have you seen my home, Amini? Look around you. Look at my daughter, the last surviving of my children. Look at her child, stillborn in the womb. Look at me, old and withered enough to have no uses left to my body. Amini, I cannot work and I cannot slave. I cannot whore myself for I am too old and withered to be attractive. Amini, I fear no blade or hell, for I live in it already."

Cit'lal-I was silent. He did look at the place he sat in. this place….had Xochyotl lived here? Slept here? Been abused here? A growl escaped the hunter's fangs and he looked at the sodden dirt floor. These people couldn't help him. They too didn't know what love was, they had never lived it. The young mother and her dead child, whom she attempted to breastfeed and the old woman, were in hell already. The hunter shook his head and looked upward at the small cracks in the ceiling. Light dare not even shine through to this hell-ridden home. The hunter stood to leave. He heard a sad sob and looked toward the young mother again. She was staring at him.

"Kill me. Save me. Save my baby. Save…save…" the woman fell on his feet, her dead child sloping against the sandals and clawed toes. The Amini, the hunter, felt pity for the women in this hut. In a moment of pity, the hunter made a decision. The wristblades at his arm unsheathed with an ominous _schlang!_

Something about the women disturbed him. The smiles they bore as he saved them, the woman holding her dead infant and singing softly. He didn't like this. Was this the fate of human women? Bear children, be raped and abused until they were used up and then to be spit out into the hells of this civilization? The hunter didn't want that for his human. She was…the only one of them that mattered. The hunter would never use her…would he? Cit'lal-I stopped at the hill to the village. Was he using her now? For his own gain? The hunter shook his head and grumbled. No, he wasn't using her and he never would. He would use himself; throw himself and his heart at her until she could see what he saw…until she felt this as well. And he would start…by treating her like a Queen.

Xochyotl stood; the bed she had used was nothing like the one in her…or rather his bedroom. The cot was comfy thought, and the bruises and cuts and broken things on her body were almost healed in just a few days. Cit'lal-I had been gone thought and she wondered what she had done to anger him. The white clothing she had been given still betrayed her feelings. She looked up at the main hall and frowned in confusion. There had been many more males in the temple than the past few days, of both species. Xochyotl shook her head in frustration and sadness. The mating season would start in a few days' time, and Cit'lal-I would be forced to choose a mate and…make babies. Xochyotl looked down at her feet; clean as they were she knew they weren't clean enough for Cit'lal-i. The hunter, the God's Messenger…tears welled up in her disobedient eyes. The first dropped to the floor. The second hit her white pants…and something shadowed over her.

Cit'lal-I, his mask on and armor shining against all of the plant life in the temple, towered over her for a moment. He growled a greeting and held out his hand.


End file.
